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Photo by Ph. B. Wallace 



INDEPENDENCE HALL, REAR VIEW, PHILADELPHIA 



HISTORIC SHRINES OF 
AMERICA 

BEING THE STORY OF ONE HUNDRED 

AND TWENTY HISTORIC BUILDINGS 

AND THE PIONEERS WHO MADE 

THEM NOTABLE 

BY 

JOHN T. FARIS 

Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Fellow of the 
American Geographical Society 
Author of " Real Stories from Our History," " Old Roads 
Out of Philadelphia," etc. 

ILLUSTRATED 




NEW XSjr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



Copyright^ 1918, 
By George H. Doran Company 



Printed in the United States of America 



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FOREWORD 

CIRCULAR tours have long been popular in Eng- 
land. There was a time — as there will be a time 
again — when American visitors felt that to make the 
rounds of the cathedral towns or the historic castles or 
the homes and haunts of great men and women, was a 
necessary part of seeing the tight little island. 

" What a pity it is that we in America have no such 
wealth of historic places," one returning tourist was 
heard to remark. " Oh, of course, there are a few spots 
like Independence Hall and Concord and Lexington," he 
went on, " but there are not enough of them to make it 
worth while to plan a tour such as those in which we 
have taken delight in England." 

It was easy to point out to the traveler his mis- 
take; most Americans know that the country is rich 
in places of historic interest. Just how rich it is they 
may not realize until they make a serious study of the 
landmarks of their own land, as does the European 
tourist of the centers noted in his guidebook. 

In fact, there are in America so many houses, 
churches, and other buildings having a vital connection 
with our history that volumes would be required to tell 
of them all. Even a brief record of the buildings 
whose owners or occupants played a conspicuous part 
in the early history of the country would fill a large 
book. 

It is fascinating to learn of these houses and public 
buildings and to delve into the biographies which tell 



vi FOREWORD 

what happened to the people who lived in them. Fic- 
tion seems tame after connecting, for instance, the 
story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler 
with the Ford Mansion and the Campfield House at 
Morristown, ]^ew Jersey, then with the Schuyler Man- 
sion in Albany, New York, and The Grange in New 
York City. The heart of the patriot burns with new 
love for his country as he reads of Faneuil Hall and 
the Old South Church and Carpenters' Hall. The story 
of the Revolution is clothed with living interest when 
Washington and his generals are followed to Valley 
Forge and Newburgh and Cambridge and Morristown 
and Princeton. Fresh appreciation of the sacrifice of 
the pioneers comes from going with them into the gar- 
rison houses of New England, along the Wilderness 
Road in Kentucky, to the settlements on the Ohio, or 
to the banks of the Wabash where more than one Indian 
treaty was made. 

Next comes the keen pleasure of visiting the houses 
and churches which, through the piecing together of 
these facts, have become like familiar friends. The vaca- 
tion journey that includes a careful study of a few of 
these buildings becomes a fascinating course in 
patriotism. 

It is the purpose of the author of " Historic Shrines 
of America " to tell just enough about each of one hun- 
dred and twenty of these buildings of historic interest to 
create a hunger for more ; to present pictures sufficiently 
attractive to make those who turn the pages of the 
book determine to visit the places described ; to arrange 
the brief chapters in such sequence that it will be pos- 
sible for the reader to plan for successive vacations a 
series of journeys through the centers where historic 



FOREWORD vii 

buildings may be found, and, in doing this, to pass by 
so many structures of interest that the reader and the 
tourist will have abundant opportunity to discover 
houses and churches of which he will say, " I wonder 
why this was not included." 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 

I The Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts . 19 

II Paul Reveee's House, Boston, Massachusetts . 23 

III Faneuil Hat. t., Boston, Massachusetts ... 28 

IV Three Historic Churches of Boston . . . 32 " 
V Elmwood, Cambridge, Massachusetts ... 36 

' VI The Craigie House, Cambridge, Massachusetts . 40 

' VII The Adams Houses, Quincy, Massachusetts . . 44 

VIII The Quincy Mansion, Quincy, Massachusetts . 49 

IX Fernside Farm, Haverhill, Massa«husetts . . 54 

X The Duston Garrison House, Haverhill, Massa- 
chusetts 56 

** XI The Old Manse and the Wayside, Concord, 

Massachusetts- 61 

XII The Royall House, Medford, Massachusetts . 66 

XIII Broadhearth and the Bennet-Boardman House, 

Saugus, Massachusetts 69 

XIV The Colonel Jeremiah Lee House, Marblehead, 

Massachusetts . 72 

XV The Old South Church, Newburyport, Massachu- 
setts 75 

XVI The First Baptist Church, Providence, Rhode 

Island 80 

TWO: WHERE PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 
FLOURISHED 

XVII The Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York City . 87 

XVIII The Philipse Manor House, Yonkers, New York 91 

iz 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

95 



XIX St. Paul's Chapel, New York City . 

XX Fraunces' Tavern, New York City . 

* XXI The Grange, New York City .... 

XXII The Van Cortlandt House, New York City . 

XXIII The Hasbrouck House, Newburgh, New York 



97 
100 
104 
106 



THREE: ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH THE PATRIOTS 

XXIV The Franklin Palace, Perth Amboy, New Jersey 115 

XXV The Church at Caldwell, New Jersey . . .119 

XXVI Old Tennent Church, Freehold, New Jersey . 122 

XXVII The Ford Mansion, Morristown, New Jersey . 126 

XXVIII Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey . . . 130 

XXIX Three Historic Houses at Princeton, New Jersey 134 

XXX The Springfield Meeting House, New Jersey . 138 

FOUR: RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 

XXXI The Letitia Penn House, Philadelphia . 145 

XXXII Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia .... 149 

XXXIII St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia .... 153 

XXXIV Cliveden, Germantown, Philadelphia . . . 156 
XXXV Old Pine Street Church, Philadelphia . . .159 

* XXXVI Independence Hall, Philadelphia , . . .162 
XXXVII The David Rittenhouse Home, near Philadelphia 170 



XXXVIII The Headquarters at Valley Forge, Pennsyl 
VANIA 



XXXIX Three Headquarters of Washington 

XL Sweetbrieb-on-the-Schuylkill, Philadelphia 

XLI Mill Grove and Fatlands, near Philadelphia 

XLII Waynesborough, near Paoli, Pennsylvania 

XLIII The Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsyl 
VANIA 



174 
178 
183 
187 
192 

196 



Historic Shrines of America 

BY JOHN T. PARIS 



CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

FIVE: OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 

XLIV HisTOBio Landmarks at New Castle, Delawabe 203 

XLV The Ridgely House, Dover, Delawabe . . . 208 

XLVI Rehoboth Church on the Pocomoke, Maeyland . 211 

XLVII Douqhobegan Manor, near Ellicott City, Mary- 
land 216 

XLVIII The Upton Scott House, Annapolis, Maryland . 220 

XLIX The Capitol at Washington 225 

L The White House, Washington .... 230 

LI The Octagon House, Washington .... 234 

SIX: HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 

• LII Mount Vernon, Virginia 241 

*► LIII Arlington, Virginia 246 

f LIV Cheist Chuech, Alexandeia, Vibginia . . . 249 

LV The Maey Washington House, Feedebicksbueg, 

Vibginia 251 

LVI Gbeenway and Sheewood Fobest, Vibginia . . 257 

LVII Two Historic Couethouses of Virginia . . 262 

LVIII St. John's Chuech, Richmond 266 

LIX The Nelson House and the Mooee House, York- 
town, Virginia 270 

• LX The John Marshall House, Richmond, Virginia 274 

LXI Five Old Houses of Tidewater, Virginia . . 278 

LXII Gunston Hall, Virginia 281 

LXIII The Washington College Building, Lexington, 

Virginia 285 

LXIV Bbuton Pabish Chuech, Williamsbueg, Vibginia 288 

LXV William and Maey College, Williamsburg, 

Virginia . 291 

LXVI The Monumental Chuech, Richmond, Virginia . 294 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTKR 

LXVII MoNTPELiEK, Orange County, Virginia . 

LXVIII Oak Hill, Loudoun County, Virginia 

LXIX Red Hill, Charlotte County, Virginia . 

LXX PoHiCK Church, Truro Parish, Virginia 

LXXI Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia 

LXXII Two OF Virginia's Oldest Church Buildings 

* LXXIII Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia 

n LXXIV The University of Virginia at Charlottesville 



Virginia 



PAG re 
296 

301 

305 

311 

314 

318 

322 

326 



SEVEN: THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 

LXXV Three Old Churches in Charleston, South 

Carolina 333 

LXXVI The House of Rebecca Motte, Charleston, South 

Carolina 330 

LXXVII The Independent Church, Savannah, Georgia . 340 

LXXVIII The Cabildo of New Orleans 343 

• LXXIX The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas . . . . 347 

* LXXX The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee . . . 351 
LXXXI Ashland, Lexington, Kentucky . ., . . . 355 

LXXXII Sportsman's Hall, Whitley's Station, Kentucky 359 

LXXXIII White Haven, near St. Louis, Missouri . . 362 



EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 

^ LXXXIV The Abraham Lincoln House, Springfield, Illi- 
nois 369 

LXXXV The Governor's Palace at Vincennes, Indiana . 374 

LXXXVI The House of General Rufus Putnam, Marietta, 

Ohio . . 377 

LXXXVII Monument Place, Elm Grove, West Virginia . 381 

LXXXVIII The Castle at Fort Niagara, New York . 386 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER p^^g 

LXXXIX The Schuyleb Mansion, Albany, New Yobk . . 391 

XC The Wentwobth House, Poetsmouth, New Hamp 

SHIEE 395 

XCI The Wadswobth Longfellow House, Pobtland, 

Maine 400 

BiBLIOGBAPHY 4O7 

Index 411 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Independence Hall, Rear View, Philadelphla, Pennsylvanla. 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts 25 

Paul Revebk House, Boston, Massachusetts .... 26 

Hancock-Clabke House, Lexington, Massachusetts ... 26 

Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts 34 

Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts 35 

Craigie House, Cambridge, Massachusetts 48 

Fernside Farm, Haverhill, Massachusetts 48 

Duston Garrison House, Haverhill, Massachusetts ... 49 

Rotall House, Medford, Massachusetts 49 

Broadhearth, Saugus, Massachusetts 70 

Bennet-Boardman House, Saugus, Massachusetts ... 70 

Old South Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts . . 71 

MoBRis-JuMEL House, New York City 97 

Philipse Manor House, Yonkebs, New York 97 

Fraunces' Tavern, New York City 98 

Van Cortlandt House, New York City 98 

The Franklin Palace, Perth Amboy, New Jersey . . . 121 

Old Tennent Church, Freehold, New Jersey 121 

Nassau Hall and the First President's House, Princeton, 

New Jersey 122 

MoRVEN, Princeton, New Jersey 122 

Letitia Penn House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . . 146 

St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania 147 

XV 



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Cliveden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 160 

Third (Old Pine Street) Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania 160 

David Rittenhouse's House, Noeristown, Pennsylvania . . 161 

Dawesfield, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .... 161 

Emlen House, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . . .179 

Fatlands, near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania 179 

Waynesborough, Paoli, Pennsylvania 180 

Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania .... 180 

Amstel House, New Castle, Delaware 205 

Doorway op Amstel House, New Castle, Delaware . . . 205 

Hall op Read House, New Castle, Delaware .... 205 

Doorway op Rodney House, New Castle, Delaware . . . 206 

Doorway of Stewart House, New Castle, Delaware . . . 206 

Doorway of Read House, New Castle, Delaware .... 206 

Doorway of Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Delaware 206 

Immanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware 217 

RiDGELY House, Dover, Delaware 218 

Doughobegan Manor, near Ellicott City, Maryland . . .218 

Upton Scott House, Annapolis, Maryland 233 

Octagon House, Washington, D. C 233 

The Stairway, Octagon House, Washington, D. C. . . . 234 

Mount Vernon, Virginia, Rear View 244 

Arlington, Virginia 244 

Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia 245 

Maby Washington's House, Fredericksburg, Virginia . . 262 

Hanover Court House, Virginia 262 

St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia 263 

Nelson House, Yobktown, Virginia 263 

Westover on the James, Virginia 282 



ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 

PAGE 

GuNSTON Hall on the Potomac, Virginl4, 282 

Washington College Building, Lexington, Virginia . . . 283 

Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia .... 283 

Monumental Church, Kichmond, Virginia 314 

Pohick Church, Virginia 314 

Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia 315 

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia . . . 315 

Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia . . 336 

Pringle House, Charleston, South Carolina .... 337 

The Cabildo, New Orleans, Louisiana 337 

The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee 352 

Ashland, Lexington, Kentucky 352 

Sportsman's Hall, Whitley's Station, Kentucky . . . 353 

White Haven, St. Louis, Missouri 353 

Abraham Lincoln's House, Springfield, Illinois .... 370 

William Henry Harrison's House, Vincennes, Indiana . . 370 

RuFus Putnam's House, Marietta, Ohio 371 

The Schuyler Mansion, Albany, New York 371 

Wentworth House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire . . . 394 

Warner House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire .... 394 

Wadsworth Longfellow House, Portland, Maine . . . 395 



ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 



The riches of the Commonwealth 

Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health; 

And more to her than gold or grain, 

The cunning hand and cultured brain. 

For well she keeps her ancient stock, 
The stubborn strength of Pilgrim Rock; 
And still maintains, with milder laws, 
And clearer light, the Good Old Cause! 

Nor heeds the skeptic's puny hands. 

While near her school the church-spire stands; 

Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule, 

While near her church-spire stands the school. 



,1 
— John Geeenleaf Whittiee, 



ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM WHOSE BALCONY THE DECLARATION OP 
INDEPENDENCE WAS PROCLAIMED 

Thirty-three years after Captain John Smith sailed 
into Boston Harbor, the first Town House was built. 
This was in 1657. The second Town House, which was 
built on the same site, was erected in 1712. In 1748 the 
third Town House, later the Old State House, followed 
the structure of 1712, the outer walls of the old build- 
ing being used in the new\ 

Since 1689, when Governor Andros' tyranny was over- 
thrown, the old building has been in the thick of his- 
toric events. How it figured in the Boston Massacre 
was shown by John Tudor in his diary. He wrote : 

" March, 1770. On Monday evening the 5th current, 
a few Minutes after 9 o'clock a most horrid murder was 
committed in King Street before the custom house Door 
by 8 or 9 Soldiers under the Command of Capt. Thos 
Preston of the Main Guard on the South side of the 
Town House. This unhappy affair began by Some Boys 
& young fellows throwing Snow Balls at the sentry 
placed at the Custom house Door. On which 8 or 9 
Soldiers Came to his Assistance. Soon after a Number 

19 



20 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

of people collected, when the Capt commanded the Sol- 
diers to fire, which they did and 3 Men were Kil'd on 
the Spot & several Mortaly Wounded, one of which died 
next Morning. . . . Lent Governor Hutchinson, who 
was Commander in Chiefe, was sent for & Came to the 
Council Chamber, where some of the Magustrates at- 
tended. The Governor desired the Multitude about 10 
O'clock to sepperat & to go home peaceable & he would 
do all in his power that Justice should be done &c. The 
29 Regiment being then under Arms on the south side 
of the Townhouse, but the people insisted that the Sol- 
diers should be ordered to their Barracks first before 
they would sepperat. Which being done the people 
sepperated aboute 1 O'Clock." 

Next day the people met in Faneuil Hall, and de- 
manded the immediate removal of the troops. The 
demand being refused, they met again at Faneuil Hall, 
but adjourned to Old South Church, since the larger 
hall was required to accommodate the aroused citizens. 
A new committee, headed by Samuel Adams, sought 
Hutchinson in the Council Chamber of the Town House, 
and secured his permission to remove the troops with- 
out delay. 

The next event of note in the history of the old build- 
ing was the public reading there of the Declaration of 
Independence on July 18, 1776, in accordance with the 
message of John Hancock, President of the Continental 
Congress, who asked that it be proclaimed "in such 
a mode that the people may be impressed by it." 

Abigail Adams told in a letter to her husband, John 
Adams, of the reading: 

" I went with the multitude to King street to hear 
the Declaration Proclamation for Independence read 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 21 

and proclaimed. . . . Great attention was given to 
every word. . . . Thus ends royal Authority in the 
state." 

A British prisoner on parole, who was an invited 
guest at the reading of the Declaration, wrote a de- 
tailed narrative of the events of the day, in the Town 
Hall, in which he said: 

" Exactly as the clock struck one. Colonel Crafts, 
who occupied the chair, rose and, silence being obtained, 
read aloud the declaration, which announced to the 
world that the tie of allegiance and protection, which 
had so long held Britain and her North American col- 
onies together, was forever separated. This being fin- 
ished, the gentlemen stood up, and each, repeating the 
words as they were spoken by an officer, swore to up- 
hold, at the sacrifice of life, the rights of his country. 
Meanwhile the town clerk read from the balcony the 
Declaration of Independence to the crowd ; at the close 
of which, a Shout began in the hall, passed like an elec- 
tric spark to the streets, which rang with loud huzzas, 
the slow and measured boom of Cannon, and the rattle 
of musketry." 

Thirteen years later, when Washington visited Bos- 
ton, he passed through a triumphal arch to the State 
House. In his diary he told of what followed his en- 
trance to the historic building : 

" Three cheers was given by a vast concourse of 
people. Who, by this time, had assembled at the Arch — 
then followed an ode composed in honor of the Presi- 
dent; and well sung by a band of select singers — After 
this three cheers — followed by the different Professions 
and Mechanics in the order they were drawn up, with 
their colors, through a lane of the people which had 
thronged about the arch under which they passed." 



22 HISTOKIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The ode sung that day was as follows: 

" General Washington, the hero's come, 
Each heart exulting hears the sound; 
See, thousands their deliverer throng, 
And shout his welcome all around. 

Now in full chorus bursts the song. 
And shout the deeds of Washington." 

The Old State House was near destruction in 1835, 
as a result of the uproar that followed the attempt of 
William Lloyd Garrison to make an abolition address 
in the hall next door to the office of the Liberator, whose 
editor he was. A furious crowd demanded his blood, 
and he was persuaded to retire. Later the doors of 
the Liberator office where he had taken refuge were 
broken down, and, after a chase, the hunted man was 
seized and dragged to the rear of the Old State House, 
then used as the City Hall and Post-office. The mayor 
rescued him from the mob, which was talking of hang- 
ing him, and carried him into the State House. The 
threats of the outwitted people became so loud that it 
was feared the building would be destroyed and that 
Garrison would be killed. As soon as possible, there- 
fore, he was spirited away to the Leverett Street jail. 

For many years, until 1882, the Old State House was 
used for business purposes, after previous service as 
Town House, City Hall, Court House, and State House. 
It is now used as a historical museum by the Bostonian 
Society. 

The historic halls within the building have the same 
walls and ceilings as when the old house was erected 
in 1748. For many years the exterior was covered with 
unsightly paint, but this has been scraped off, and the 
brick walls gleam red as in former days. 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 23 



II 



PAUL KEVERE'S HOUSE, BOSTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE THE MERCURY OF THE REVOLUTION LIVED 
AND TOILED 

" Take three fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors Confess (rac) 

With three parts of a place ichich the Wicked don't Bless (hbl) 

Joyne four sevenths of an Exercise which shop-keepers use (walk) 

Add what Bad Men do, when they good actions refuse (er) 
These four added together tvith great care and Art 
Will point out the Fair One that is nearest my Heart." 

Thus wrote Paul Revere, the Boston goldsmith, on 
the back of a bill to Mr. Benjamin Greene for " Gold 
buttons," " Mending a Spoon," and " Two pr. of Silver 
Shoe Buckles," which was made out one day in 1773 
in the old house in North Square, built in 1676. To 
this house he planned to lead as his second wife Rachel 
Walker; his eight children needed a mother's care, and 
he wanted some one to share the joys and the burdens 
of his life. 

Before his first marriage, in 1757, he had served as 
a second lieutenant in a company of artillery, in the 
expedition against Crown Point. Soldiering was suc- 
ceeded by work at his trade of goldsmith and silversmith, 
learned from his father. He was a skilled engraver; 
most of the silverware made in Boston at this period 
testified to his ability. Later, when the rising patriotic 
tide seemed to call for lithographs and broadsides, he 
engraved these on copper with eager brain and active 
hand. 



24 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

He began his patriotic work as a member of the secret 
order The Sons of Liberty, which had organizations in 
nearly all the colonies, held frequent meetings, and 
laid plans for resisting the encroachments of Great 
Britain. Once, when some three hundred of these Sons 
dined at Dorchester, Paul Revere was present, as well 
as Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock. 

It was necessary to have a trusted messenger to carry 
tidings of moment from place to place, and Paul Revere 
was one of those chosen for the purpose. His first im- 
portant ride was at the time of the destruction of the 
tea in Boston harbor. He had a leading part in bring- 
ing together the patriots who gathered on November 29, 
1773, first at Faneuil Hall, then at Old South Meeting 
House, to protest against the landing of the tea from 
the ship Dartmouth, and he was one of the men who, 
on December 16, in Indian disguise, threw £18,000 
worth of tea into the harbor. In preparation for the 
rallying of the men of the tea party at the " Green 
Dragon," the following ditty was composed: 

" Rally Mohawks! bring out your axes, 
And tell King George we'll pay no taxes 

On his foreign tea. 
His threats are vain, and vain to think 
To force our girls and wives to drink 

His vile Bohea! 
Then rally boys, and hasten on 
To meet our chief at the Green Dragon. 

" Old Warren's there, and bold Revere, 
With hands to do, and words to cheer, 

For liberty and laws; 
Our country's brave and free defenders 
Shall ne'er be left by true North-Enders 

Fighting Freedoms cause! 




PAUL REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON 



I-'huto by Halliday Historic Photograph Company 
See Page 23 




HAXCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE. LEXINtiTOX, MASS. 



Photo hi/ IlnUidaij Historic Photograph Company 

See Page 23 




Photo by HalUday Historic Photuaraph Company, Boston 



OLD STATE HOUSE, BOSTON 



See Page 19 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGEIMS 25 

Then rally boys, and hasten on 

To meet our chiefs at the Green Dragon." 

Of the work done by the Mohawks on that December 
night John Adams wrote on December 17, 1773, " This 
Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, 
intrepid, and inflexible, and it must have so important 
Consequences, and so lasting, that I can't but consider 
it as an Epoch in History,'' 

The enactment of the Boston Port Bill was the cause 
of Revere's next ride. A meeting of citizens in Boston 
decided to ask the other colonies " to come into a joint 
resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation 
to. Great Britain and every part of the West Indies till 
the act be repealed," in the thought that this would 
" prove the salvation of North America and her 
liberties." 

These resolutions were given to Paul Revere by the 
selectmen of Boston, and he was urged to ride with all 
speed to New York and Philadelphia. On May 30, 
1774, the Essex Gazette told of the return of the mes- 
senger, and announced, " Nothing can exceed the indig- 
nation with which our brethren of Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia have received 
this proof of Ministerial madness. They universally 
declare their resolution to stand by us to the last 
extremity." 

Four months later another ride to Philadelphia was 
taken, to carry to the Continental Congress the Suffolk 
Resolves. Six days only were taken for the journey. 
When Congress learned of the protest in New England 
against the principle " that Parliament had the right 
to legislate for the colonies in all cases jvhatsoever,"- 



26 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

there was no question that a new nation was ready for 
birtli. " I think I may assure you, that America will 
make a point of supporting Boston to the utmost," 
Samuel Adams wrote, the day after Revere's message 
was read. 

Once more during the historic year 1774 the Boston 
silversmith turned aside from his shop long enough 
to ride to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to give in- 
formation of the prohibition by Great Britain of further 
importations of gunpowder, and to tell of the coming 
of a large garrison to Fort William and Mary at Ports- 
mouth. The immediate result of the ride was the send- 
ing of a party of four hundred patriots against the fort, 
which surrendered at once. Little attention has been 
paid to this event by historians, yet it was one of the 
most potent of the events preceding the Revolution. 
One hundred barrels of gunpowder were seized at the 
fort, and this was a large part of the ammunition used 
later at Bunker Hill. 

Then came April 18, 1775, the date of " that memo- 
rable ride, not only the most brilliant, but the most 
important single exploit in our national annals." The 
Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety were 
in session at Concord. General Warren had remained 
in Boston to watch the movements of the British, and 
Revere had been holding himself in readiness to carry 
tidings as soon as there was anything of importance 
to be told. Now word was to be sent to John Hancock 
and Samuel Adams, who were at the residence of Rev. 
Mr. Clarke at Lexington, " that a number of soldiers 
were marching towards the bottom of the Common, 
. . . and that it was thought they were the objects of 
the movement." Revere had foreseen the necessity for 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 27 

the ride, and, fearing that he might not be able to cross 
the Charles River, or get over Boston Neck, had ar- 
ranged with patriots in Charleston that two " Ian- 
thorns " would be shown in the North Church steeple 
if the British went out by water, and one if they went 
by land. 

On the night of April 18 Revere was rowed by two 
friends across Charles River, passing almost under the 
guns of the Somerset. After conferring with the 
Charleston patriots, who had seen the signals, he se- 
cured a horse, and started toward Lexington, proceed- 
ing with extreme care, because he had been told that 
ten mounted British ofl&cers had been seen going up the 
road. Once he was chased by two British officers. At 
Medford he awakened the captain of the minute men. 
" After that I alarmed almost every house till I got to 
Lexington," the patriot rider later told the story. 
Messrs. Hancock and Adams were aroused. Then 
Revere went on to Concord, accompanied by two others, 
that the stores might be secured. Once more residents 
by the roadside were awakened. He himself was soon 
surrounded by four mounted British soldiers, but his 
companions were able to proceed. After a time he was 
released by his captors, and he made his way to the 
Clarke house, where Hancock and Adams still were. 

Thus the way was prepared for Concord and Lexing- 
ton. That the patriots were not taken by surprise, and 
the stores at Concord taken, as the British had hoped, 
was due to the courage and resourcefulness of Paul 
Revere. 

Revere's rides as messenger did not end his services 
to the colonists. In 1775 he engraved the plates and 
printed the bills of the paper money of Massachusetts, 



28 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

and later lie built and operated a powder mill. He 
was made lieutenant-colonel of State artillery, and took 
part in the unfortunate Penobscot expedition out of 
which grew the charges of which he w^as triumphantly 
acquitted by the court-martial held at his own request. 
The old house in North Square was the home of the 
Revere family until about 1795. 



Ill 

FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON 
"THE CRADLE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY" 

Andrew Faneuil was one of the Huguenots who fled 
from France as a result of the Edict of Nantes. By 
way of Holland he came to Boston. It is a matter of 
official record that on February 1, 1691, he was ad- 
mitted by the Governor and Council of the Massachu- 
setts Bay Colony. 

Within a few years the refugee was looked upon as 
a leader both in the French church and in business. 
Copies of invoices of merchandise consigned to him 
show that he was a dealer in all kinds of supplies of 
food, household furnishings, and dress goods. 

When he died, in 1738, the Boston News Letter said 
that " 1,100 persons of all Ranks, beside the Mourners," 
followed the body to the grave. " And 'tis supposed 
that as the Gentleman's fortune was the greatest of any 
among us, so his funeral was the most generous and 
expensive of any that has been known here." 

Peter Faneuil, the heir and successor to the fortune 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 29 

and business of his uncle, was a shrewd business man 
who knew how to make the most of his opportunities. 
But he took time to think and plan for his fellow-towns- 
men. He was disturbed because there was no adequate 
public market in Boston, and he was not discouraged 
by the fact that numerous attempts to establish such 
a convenience had been received with hostility by the 
people, especially the farmers, who felt that they would 
have a better chance to sell from house to house on any 
day than in a fixed place on a set day. 

His proposition to provide the market by gift to the 
town stirred up a spirited controversy. At a town 
meeting called to consider the proposition, held on 
July 14, 1740, the attendance was so large that the 
company adjourned to the Brattle Street Meeting 
House. 

There the people set themselves to consider the 
proposition of Peter Faneuil, w^ho " hath been gener- 
ously pleased to offer at his own cost and charge to 
erect and build a noble and complete structure or edi- 
fice to be improved for a market, for the sole use, benefit 
and advantage of the town, provided that the town of 
Boston would pass a vote for the purpose, and lay the 
same under such proper regulation as shall be thought 
necessary, and constantly support it for the said use." 

The gift had a narrow escape from the 727 voters 
who cast the ballots. The majority in favor of ac- 
cepting the market was only seven ! 

The average giver would have been discouraged by 
such a reception; but Peter Faneuil, on the contrary, 
did more than he had proposed. When the selectmen 
were told in August, 1742 — seven months before Fan- 
euirs death — that the building was ready, there was 



30 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

not only a market house, but above it a hall for town 
meetings and other gatherings. By action of the meet- 
ing called to accept the building the hall over the mar- 
ket was named Faneuil Hall. 

" I hope that what I have done will be of service 
to the whole country," was the donor's response to this 
graceful act. 

At once the Hall became a Boston institution. The 
town offices were removed to the building, town meet- 
ings were held there, and a series of public concerts was 
given in it. The market, however, was not popular. 

The fire of January 13, 1761, destroyed the interior 
of the building. The money for rebuilding was raised 
by a lottery. 

Faneuil Hall began its career as a national institu- 
tion on August 27, 1765, when the voters, in mass meet- 
ing, denounced the lawless acts of " Persons unknown " 
by which they had shown their hatred of the iniquitous 
Stamp Act. At a second meeting, held on September 
12, the voters instructed their Representatives " as to 
their conduct at this very alarming crisis." 

" The genuine Sons of Liberty " gathered in the Hall 
March 18, 1767, that they might rejoice together be- 
cause of the repeal of the Stamp Act. The Boston 
Gazette reported that "a large company of the prin- 
cipal inhabitants crowded that spacious apartment, and 
with loud huzzas, and repeated acclamations at each 
of the twenty-five toasts, saluted the glorious and memo- 
rable heroes of America, particularly those who dis- 
tinguished themselves in the cause of Liberty, which 
was ever growing under the iron hand of oppression." 

What has been called " perhaps the most dramatic 
scene in all history " was staged in this Cradle of Lib- 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 31 

erty on the day after the Boston Massacre, March 6, 
1770. The crowd was so large that it was necessary 
to adjourn to Old South before action could be taken 
requesting the governor to withdraw the troops whose 
presence had led to the massacre. 

Then came the tea meetings. The first of these was 
held in the Hall on November 5, 1773. At this meeting 
committees were appointed to wait on the several per- 
sons to whom tea had been consigned by the East India 
Company, " and in the name of the town to request 
them from a regard to their character, and to the peace 
and good order of the town, immediately to resign their 
trust." The response made to these committees and 
to subsequent tea meetings was unsatisfactory, and on 
December 16 a number of disguised citizens gathered 
at the waterfront and held the " Boston Tea Party." 

The occupation of Boston by the British interrupted 
the Faneuil Hall town meetings, but soon after the 
evacuation of the city the people turned their steps 
thither for public gatherings of many sorts. Fortu- 
nately the building had not been seriously injured. 
When Washington entered the city he spoke with feel- 
ing of the safety of the structure that had meant so 
much to the people. 

It was fitting that, in the stirring days that preceded 
the War of 1812, meetings to protest against the acts 
of Great Britain should be held here. Historic gather- 
ings followed during this war, as also during the War 
of 1861-65. 

Three times Faneuil Hall has been rebuilt since its 
donor turned it over to his fellow-citizens. The first 
reconstruction came after the fire. In 1806 the build- 
ing was enlarged and improved. Again in 1898 it was 



32 HISTOKIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

completely rebuilt and made fireproof, though, wherever 
possible, original materials were used. While it is 
much larger than in the early da^^s, the general appear- 
ance is so similar that the structure w^ould be recog- 
nized by such an ardent lover of the early structure as 
Lafayette, who, when he was in Boston in 1824, said : 

" May Faneuil Hall ever stand, a monument to teach 
the world that resistance to oppression is a duty, and 
will under true republican institutions become a 
blessing." 



IV 

THREE HISTORIC CHURCHES OF BOSTON 

THE STORY OF OLD NORTH, OLD SOUTH, AND KING'S CHAPEL 

The First Church of Boston would have been large 
enough for all its members for many years longer than 
they worshipped together, if they had been of one mind 
politically. But the differences that separated people 
in England in the troublous days of Charles I were 
repeated in Boston. For this reason some of the mem- 
bers of the First Church thought they would be better 
off by themselves, and in 1650 they organized the Sec- 
ond Church. Later the church became known as North 
Church, by reason of its location. As it grew older 
the name Old North was applied to it. 

From its organization Old North became known as 
the church of spirited reformers, a real school for 
patriots. Increase Mather, one of its early pastors, 
was responsible for developing and directing the pe- 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 33 

culiar genius of its organization. At the time of the 
Revolution the British officers spoke of the church as 
"a nest of traitors." 

Many mass meetings to protest against the acts of 
Great Britain were held in this church. The corpora- 
tion used it for a time as a fire house and a public 
arsenal, and when signals were given by the direction 
of Paul Revere on the night of his famous ride the lan- 
terns were hung in the steeple of Old North. 

The original building of 1652 was burned in 1673. 
The second building was also burned, but by the Brit- 
ish, who tore it down and used it for firewood during 
the cold winter of the occupation of the city. 

After the destruction of the building the members of 
New Brick Church, an offshoot of Old North, invited 
the congregation to worship with them. The invitation 
was accepted, and soon the congregations came together, 
under the name Old North. The building occupied ever 
since by the reunited congregation was erected in 1723. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson served as pastor and conducted 
services in this structure. 

In 1669 there were many earnest people who felt that 
the teachings of the older church were not liberal 
enough for them, and they decided to have a church 
after their own heart. They felt that all who had been 
baptized might be citizens of the town; they were un- 
willing to be associated longer with those who insisted, 
as the General Synod of Massachusetts recommended, 
that all citizens must be church members, as formerly. 
So permission to organize was asked of the other 
churches. On their refusal appeal was taken to the 
Governor. The next appeal, to the selectmen of Boston, 
was successful. 



34 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The new church, which was called the South Meeting 
House, was built on the site of Governor Winthrop's 
house. In 1717 the people began to call the church 
" The Old South," to distinguish it from another church 
[Which was still further south. 

In 1685 Governor Andros insisted that the Old South 
building should be used for the Church of England 
service, as well as for the services of the owners of the 
building. For two years Churchmen and Congrega- 
tionalists occupied it harmoniously at different hours 
on Sunday. 

On a Fast Day in 1696 Judge Sewall stood up before 
the congregation while they heard him read his prayer 
for the forgiveness of God and his fellow-citizens for 
any possible guilt he had incurred in the witchcraft 
trials. 

Ten years later, on the day he was born, January 17, 
1706, Benjamin Franklin was baptized in the church, 
though not in the present building. 

The building made famous by the series of town 
meetings before and during the Revolution was erected 
in 1730. When Faneuil Hall was too small to hold 
the crowds that clamored for entrance, Old South was 
pressed into use. On June 14, 1768, at one of these 
meetings, a petition was sent to the Governor asking 
that the British frigate be removed from the harbor. 
John Hancock was chairman of this committee. The 
Boston Tea Party followed a mass meeting held here. 

Burgoyne's cavalry used Old South Church as a rid- 
ing school. Pigs were kept in one of the pews, while 
many of the furnishings were burned. 

Since March, 1776, when the church was repaired, 
it has been little changed. Services were discontinued 




Ini II, ,11,, I, m llisloric Pliotuaraph Coin pii 1,1/ 



OLD NORTH CHURCH, BOSTON 



See page 32 




Plidlii bi) lliitlidtiij Uiaiiiiic Fhotograp)i Company 



OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON 



See^page 34 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGEIMS 35 

in 1872. After the great fire the building was used 
as a post-office. 

Five years later there was talk of destroying the 
historic structure that the valuable lot might be used 
for business purposes, but the efforts of patriotic women 
were successful in preserving the relic. Since that time 
it has been kept open as a museum. 

While Old North and Old South were organizations 
expressing the will of the people, the third of the famous 
churches of Boston was the expression of the will of 
King James II of England. During more than sixty 
years of the city's history there had been no congrega- 
tion of the Church of England; members of that body 
were required to attend service in the existing parishes. 
A minister and a commission sent from England to ar- 
range for the new church were received with scant 
courtesy by the churches when request was made that 
opportunity be given to hold Church of England serv- 
ices in the building of one of them. 

Not satisfied with the offer of a room in the Town 
House, Governor Andros demanded that Old South 
make arrangements to accommodate the new body. On 
the refusal of the trustees to do as the Governor wished, 
the sexton of the church was one day ordered to ring 
the bell and open the doors for the Governor and his 
staff, and those who might wish to attend with them. 
Then the trustees submitted to the inevitable. 

This was in 1687. The first chapel was built for the 
new congregation in 1689, on land appropriated for 
the purpose, since no one would convey a site willingly. 
This building was enlarged in 1710. The present strik- 
ing structure dates from 1749-53. Peter Faneuil was 
treasurer of the committee that raised the necessary 



36 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

funds. The expense was but £2,500, though granite 
from the new Quincy quarry was used. The colonnade 
surrounding the tower was not built until 1790. 

King's Chapel, as the new church building came to 
be called, was known as the abode of loyalists, just as 
Old North and Old South were famous as the haunts 
of patriotic worshippers. The presence on the walls 
of the insignia of royalty and varied heraldic devices 
seriously disturbed the minds of those who felt that 
a house of worship should have no such furnishings. 

During the Revolution the building was respected 
by the British as well as by the citizens of the town. 
When the war was over, the congregation of Old South 
was invited to use the chapel because their own church 
needed extensive repairs in consequence of the use the 
British had made of it. 

Since 1787 King's Chapel has been a Unitarian 
church. The change was made under the leadership 
of Rev. James Freeman. 



ELMWOOD, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL WAS BORN, AND 
WHERE HE DIED 

When Thomas Oliver, Lieutenant Governor and 
president of George Ill's provincial council, built his 
house in Cambridge about 1767, he did not dream that 
within nine years he would have to abandon it because 
of his allegiance to the same George III. But so it 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 37 

proved. He was a Tory, and his neighbors would not 
suffer him to remain among them. On September 2, 
1774, he wrote his resignation of the offices he held, 
adding the statement, " My house at Cambridge being 
surrounded by five thousand people, in compliance with 
their command, I sign my name." At his request, made 
to General Gage and the admiral of the English fleet, 
troops were not sent to Cambridge, according to plan. 
" But for Thomas Oliver's intercession," Edward Ev- 
erett Hale says, " Elmwood would have been the battle- 
ground of the First Encounters." 

After his summary departure the house was used as 
a hospital by the Continental Army. When the gov- 
ernment sold it at auction it became the property first 
of Arthur Cabot, then of Elbridge Gerry, a Signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Massa- 
chusetts from 1810 to 1812, and Vice-President under 
Madison. 

The next occupant was Rev. Charles Lowell, pastor 
of the West Church of Boston. He bought the property 
just in time to make it ready for his son, James Russell 
Lowell, who was born February 22, 1819. 

As a boy James never wearied of rambling over the 
old house and the ten acres of ground, all that was left 
of the original ninety-five acres. Many of his poems 
contain references to the memories of these early years. 
" The First Snowfall," " Music," and " A Year's Life " 
are, in part, autobiographical. Lines on " The Power 
of Music " told of the days when he was his father's 
companion in the chaise, on the way to make a Sunday 
exchange of pulpits with a neighboring minister: 

** When, with feuds like Ghibelline and Guelf, 
Each parish did its music for itself, 



38 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

A parson's son, through tree-arched country ways, 
I rode exchange oft in dear old days, 
Ere yet the boys forgot, with reverent eye. 
To doff their hats as the black coat went by, 
Ere skirts expanding in their apogee 
Turned girls to bells without the second e; 
Still in my teens, I felt the varied woes 
Of volunteers, each singing as he chose, 
Till much experience left me no desire 
To learn new species of the village choir." 

Life at Elmwood was interrupted by college days, 
but he returned to the Cambridge house with his wife, 
Maria Lowell. The oldest children were born here. 
Here, too, came the first great sorrow of the parents, 
the death of their first born. At that time Mrs. Lowell 
found comfort in writing " The Alpine Sheep," a 
poem that has helped many parents in a like time of 
bereavement. 

The next great sorrow came during the Civil War, 
when the death from wounds was announced first of 
General Charles Russell Lowell, then of James Jackson 
Lowell, and finally of William Lowell Putnam, all be- 
loved nephews. In the Biglow Papers, Second Series, 
the poet referred to these three soldiers. Leslie Stephen 
called the lines " the most pathetic that he ever wrote " 
in which he spoke of the three likely lads, 

"Whose comin' step ther' 's ears thet won't, 
No, not lifelong, leave off awaitin'." 

During the closing year of the war, one of the stu- 
dents who attended his lectures on Dante at Harvard 
College wrote of a visit to his preceptor: 

" I found the serene possessor of Elmwood in good 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 39 

spirits, ate a Graham biscuit and drank some delicious 
milk with him and his wife, then enjoyed a very pleas- 
ant conversation. He read some of Shakspeare's son- 
nets, to make me think better of them, and succeeded. 
. . . He gave me a very welcome copy of Macaulay's 
essays and poems, and the little visit was another oasis 
in school life's dearth of home sociability. Mabel, his 
only child, was not there at supper, but came home 
some time after : ' salute your progenitor ! ' and the 
answer was a daughter's kiss." 

After spending years abroad, part of the time as 
Minister to Spain, then as Minister to England, Lowell 
returned to Elmwood. To a friend who congratulated 
him on being at home again, he said, " Yes, it is very 
nice here; but the old house is full of ghosts." His 
cousin, as quoted by Dr. Hale, says of these closing six 
years of the poet's life: 

" The house was haunted by sad memories, but at 
least he was once more among his books. The library, 
which filled the two rooms on the ground floor to the 
left of the front door, had been constantly growing, and 
during his stay in Europe he had bought rare works 
with the intention of leaving them to Harvard College. 
Here he would sit when sad or unwell and read Cal- 
deron, the ' Nightingale in the Study,' whom he always 
found a solace. Except for occasional attacks of the 
gout, his life had been singularly free from sickness, 
but he had been at home only a few months when he 
was taken ill, and, after the struggle of a strong man 
to keep up as long as possible, he was forced to go to 
bed. In a few days his condition became so serious 
that the physician feared he would not live; but he 
rallied, and, although too weak to go to England, as 
he had planned, he appeared to be comparatively well. 
When taken sick, he had been preparing a new edition 
of his works, the only full collection that had ever been 



40 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

made, and he had the satisfaction of publishing it soon 
after his recovery. This was the last literary work he 
was destined to do, and it rounded off fittingly his career 
as a man of letters." 

He died in August, 1891, when he was seventy-two 
years old. 

Elmwood remains in the possession of the Lowell 
heirs. The ten acres of the poet's boyhood days have 
been reduced to two or three, but the house is much the 
same as when the poa*^ Jived in it. 



VI 



THE CRAIGIE HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

MADE FAMOUS BY GEORGE WASHINGTON AND 
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOV^ 

" Somewhat back from the village street 
Stands the old-fashioned country seat. 
Across its antique portico 
Tall poplar-trees their shadoivs throw; 
And from its station in the hall 
An ancient timepiece says to all, — 

' Forever, never ! 

Never — forever.' " 

The clock of which Longfellow wrote stood on the 
stair-landing of the old Craigie House, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, which he bought in 1843, after having 
occupied it a number of years. Here he wrote the 
majority of his poems. Here, one June day, Nathaniel 
Hawthorne dined with the poet. In the course of 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 41 

conversation, the author of " The House of Seven 
Gables " told Longfellow the heart-moving story of the 
Acadian maiden who was separated from her lover by 
the cruel mandate of the conquerors of Acadia, and 
here the poem was written that told the story. Here 
were spent days of gladness with friends who delighted 
to enter the hospitable door. Here the poet rejoiced 
in his home with the children of whom he wrote in 
" The Children's Hour " : 

** Between the dark and the daylight, 
When the night is beginning to lower, 
Comes a pause in the day's occupations, 
That is known as the Children's Hour." 

And here, one sad day in July, 1861, Mrs. Long- 
fellow was so severely burned that she died the next 
day. This great sorrow bore rich fruit for those who 
loved the poet. " Above the grave the strong man 
sowed his thoughts, and they ripened like the corn in 
autumn,'' one of his biographers has said. 

The house was named for Andrew Craigie, who be- 
came the owner of the property in 1793. He had given 
valuable service during the Revolutionary War, acting 
as an " apothecary-general " in the Continental Army. 
He was a man of wealth, and his home was the popular 
resort for people of note from all parts of the country. 
During his later years he lost all his money, and his 
widow was compelled to rent rooms to Harvard stu- 
dents. In this way Edward Everett became a resident 
of the house. 

The builder of the mansion was John Vassall. In 
1760, when he occupied the house, it was surrounded 
by a park of one hundred and fifty acres. Soon after 



42 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

the begiuiiiug of tlie war he went to Boston, and later 
he removed to England, for his sympathies were with 
the Crown. Accordingly, in 1778, the property was 
declared forfeited to the State. 

But the estate really became public property three 
years before this, when a regiment, nder the command 
of Colonel Glover, pitched its ten^s in the park. In 
July, 1775, Washington made the house his headquar- 
ters, remaining until April 1, 1776. 

During these months the house was a busy place. 
Officers gathered here both for business and for pleas- 
ure. Military conferences and court-martials were held 
in the large room in the second story which was later 
used by Longfellow as a study. Dinners and entertain- 
ments were frequent; these provided a needed safety 
valve during the weeks of anxious waiting near the 
British line. Mrs. Washington was a visitor here, thus 
giving to her husband the taste of home life which he 
was unwilling to take during the Revolution by making 
a visit to his estate at Mt. Vernon. 

On one of the early days of the Commander-in-Chiefs 
occupancy of the house, he wrote this entry in his care- 
fully-kept account book: 

" July 15, 1775, Paid for cleaning the House which 
was provided for my Quarters, and which had been 
occupied by the Marblehead regiment, £2 10s. 9d." 

The day before this entry was made General Green 
wrote to Samuel Ward: 

" His Excellency, General Washington, has arrived 
amongst us, universally admired. Joy was visible in 
every countenance, and it seemed as if the spirit of 
conquest breathed through the whole army. I hope I 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 43 

shall be taught, to copy his example, and to prefer the 
love of liberty, in this time of public danger to all the 
soft pleasures of domestic life, and support ourselves 
with manly fortitude amidst all the dangers and hard- 
ships that attend a state of war. And I doubt not, 
under the General's wise direction, we shall establish 
such excellent ore' r and strictness of discipline as to 
invite victory to ?. jtend him wherever he goes." 

A council of war was held in the upstairs room on 
August 3, 1775. After this council General Sullivan 
wrote to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety: 

" To our great surprise, discovered that we had not 
powder enough to furnish half a pound a man, ex- 
clusive of what the people have in their homes and 
cartridge boxes. The General was so struck that he 
did not utter a word for half an hour." 

Further hints of the serious straits caused by the 
lack of ammunition were contained in a letter of Elias 
Boudinot. He said that at the time there were fourteen 
miles of line to guard, so that Washington did not dare 
fire an Evening or Morning Gun. " In this situation 
one of the Committee of Safety for Massachusetts . . . 
deserted and went over to General Gage, and discov- 
ered our poverty to him. The fact was so incredible, 
that General Gage treated it as a stratagem of war, 
and the informant as a Spy, or coming with the express 
purpose of deceiving him & drawing his Army into a 
Snare, by which means we were saved from having our 
Quarters beaten up. ..." 

The strange inactivity of the British in the face of 
the unpreparedness of the Continental troops was re- 
marked in a letter written to Congress on January 4, 
from Headquarters: 



44 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

" It is not in the pages of history, perhaps, to furnish 
a case like ours. To maintain a post within musket 
shot of the enemy, for six months together, without 
[powder], and at the same time to disband one army, 
and recruit another, within that distance of twenty odd 
British regiments, is more, probably, than was ever 
attempted." 

To-day visitors are free to roam through the rooms 
that echoed to the tread of Washington and his gen- 
erals, in which the children played in Longfellow's day, 
and where the poet wrote so many of his messages that 
have gone straight to the hearts of millions. 



VII 

THE ADAMS HOUSES, QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE TWO PRESIDENTS WERE BORN 

John Adams was born and spent his boyhood in 
a simple farmhouse near Braintree (now Quincy), 
Massachusetts. It has been described as a "plain, 
square, honest block of a house, widened by a lean-to, 
and scarcely two stories high." This house, built in 
1681, Daniel Munro Wilson says was "the veritable 
roof-tree, under which was ushered into being the 
earliest and strongest advocate of independence, the 
leader whose clear intelligence was paramount in shap- 
ing our free institutions, the founder of a line of states- 
men, legislators, diplomats, historians, whose patriotism 
is a passion, and whose integrity is like the granite of 
their native hills." 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 45 

It is a remarkable fact that John Adams and John 
Hancock, who stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight 
for American independence, were born within a mile 
of each other, on days only a little more than a year 
apart. The baptismal records show that October 19, 
1735, was the birthday of John Adams, while John 
Hancock was born on January 12, 1737. 

From the modest home in Braintree John Adams 
went to college. Later he taught school and studied 
law. Soon after he returned home in 1758 he wrote 
in his diary: 

" Rose at sunrise, unpitched a load of hay, and trans- 
lated two more leaves of Justinian." 

After the death of his father, in 1761, the burden 
of the home fell on his shoulders, and in the same year 
he was called to serve the country. His diary tells 
of the call: 

" In March, when I had no suspicion, I heard my 
name pronounced (at town meeting) in a nomination 
of surveyor of highways. I was very wroth, because 
I knew better, but said nothing. My friend. Dr. Savil, 
came to me and told me that he had nominated me to 
prevent me from being nominated as a constable. 
' For,' said the doctor, ^ they make it a rule to compel 
every man to serve either as constable or surveyor, or 
to pay a fine.' Accordingly, I went to ploughing and 
ditching." 

Thus John Adams showed the spirit of service that 
later animated his son, John Quincy Adams, who, after 
he had been President, became a representative in Con- 
gress, and made answer to those who thought such an 
office beneath his dignity, " An ex-President would not 



46 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

be degraded by serving as a selectman in his town if 
elected thereto by the people." 

During those early years the young lawyer had other 
occupations than ditch-digging. The records of the 
family show that he was assiduously courting Abigail 
Smith, daughter of Rev. William Smith, minister in 
Weymouth, near by. Probably he first met her in the 
historic house, for she was a frequent visitor there. 

The marriage of the young people on October 25, 
1764, excited much comment. In Puritan New Eng- 
land the profession of the law was not a popular call- 
ing, and many of the people thought Abigail Smith 
was " throwing herself away." Parson Smith was equal 
to the occasion; as he had helped his eldest daughter 
out of a similar difficulty by preaching on the text, 
" And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall 
not be taken away from her," so, on the Sunday after 
Abigail's marriage, he announced the text, " For John 
. . . came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and 
ye say, He hath a devil." 

The year of the marriage witnessed the beginning of 
John Adams' fight for independence. For it was the 
year of the iniquitous Stamp Act. In his diary he 
wrote : 

" I drew up a petition to the selectmen of Braintree, 
and procured it to be signed by a number of the re- 
spectable inhabitants, to call a meeting cx the town to 
instruct their representatives in relation to the stamps." 

The following year, when a meeting was held in 
Braintree to take action in consequence of the failure 
of Great Britain to heed the protest against the Stamp 
Act, he wrote: 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 47 

"I prepared a draught of instruction at home, and 
carried them with me. The cause of the meeting was 
explained at some length, and the state and danger of 
the country pointed out. A committee was appointed 
to prepare instructions, of which I was nominated as 
one. My draught was unanimously adopted without 
amendment, reported to the town, and accepted with- 
out a dissenting voice. . . . They rang through the 
state and were adopted in so many words ... by forty 
towns, as instructions to their representatives." 

Less than two years later, on July 11, 1767, in the 
town close by his own birthplace, to which John Adams 
had taken his bride, John Quincy Adams was born. 
The delights of the new home have been pictured in a 
pleasing manner by Daniel Munro Wilson: 

" Elevated was life in this * little hut,' but it was 
real, genuine, beautifully domestic. The scene of it, 
visible there now to any pious pilgrim, and reverently 
preserved in many of its antique appointments by the 
Quincy Historical Society, assists the imagination to 
realize its noble simplicity. The dining-room or gen- 
eral living room, with its wide open fireplace, is where 
the young couple would most often pass their evenings, 
and in winter would very likely occupy in measureless 
content a single settle, roasting on one side and freezing 
on the other. The kitchen, full of cheerful bustle, and 
fragrant as the spice isles, how it would draw the chil- 
dren as they grew up, the little John Quincy among 
them ! Here they could be near mother, and watch her 
with absorbing attention as she superintended the cook- 
ing, now hanging pots of savory meats on the crane, 
and now drawing from the cavernous depths of the 
brick oven the pies and baked beans and Indian pud- 
dings and other delicacies of those days. We can more 
easily imagine the home scene when we read these words 
written by Mrs. Adams to her husband : ^ Our son is 



48 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

much better than when you left home, and our daughter 
rocks him to sleep with the song of " Come papa, come 
home to brother Johnnie." ' ' Johnnie ' is the dignified 
President and ' old man eloquent ' that is- to be." 

When it became evident that there must be Revolu- 
tion, the patriot Adams was compelled to leave his fam- 
ily and go into the thick of the fight. He did not want 
to go. " I should have thought myself the happiest 
man in the world if I could have returned to my little 
hut and forty acres, which my father left me in Brain- 
tree, and lived on potatoes and sea-weed the rest of 
my life. But I had taken a part, I had adopted a 
system, I had encouraged my fellow citizens, and I 
could not abandon them in conscience and in honor." 

From the old home Abigail Adams wrote him letters 
that moved him to renewed efforts for his struggling 
countrymen. In one of them she said, " You cannot 
be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spec- 
tator; but if the sword be drawn, I bid adieu to all 
domestic felicity, and look forward to that country 
where there are neither wars nor rumors of war, in 
a firm belief, that through the mercy of its King we 
shall both rejoice there together." 

The wife rejoiced when her husband's ringing words 
helped to carry the Declaration of Independence; she 
urged him to make the trips to France which Congress 
asked him to undertake; she encouraged him when he 
was Vice-President and, later, President, and she made 
home more than ever an abode of peace when, in 1801, 
he returned to Braintree, to a house of Leonard Vassall, 
built in 1731, which he bought in 1785. 

In this house husband and wife celebrated their 
golden wedding, as John Quincy Adams was to cele- 




CRAIGIE HOUSE, CAMUHlIx ,i;, MASS. 



/'/,.-;,, /.,,/ /'/ /; \\„i' , PI ilt,hlphin 

^pp plgp -III 




FERXSIDE FARM, HAVERHILL, MASS. 



i^^f'^Q^i^^ 



Photo by HalUday Historic Photograph t_ onipainj 

See page 54 




DUSTON GAKIUSOX HOUSE, IIAVKRHILI., MAS;- 



See page 57 




HOVAI.L llorsK, MKDFORI), MASS. 



Photo by Ph. B. Wallace 
Sec page 00 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 49 

brate his golden wedding many years later. Here, for 
many years, the son enjoyed being with the mother of 
whom he once wrote: 

" My mother was an angel upon earth. She was a 
minister of blessings to all human beings within her 
sphere of action. . . . She has been to me more than 
a mother. She has been a spirit from above watching 
over me for good, and contributing by my mere con- 
sciousness of her existence to the comfort of my life. 
. . . There is not a virtue that can abide in the 
female heart but it was the ornament of hers." 

And in this house the mother died, on October 28, 
1818. John Quincy Adams lived there until his death, 
on July 4, 1826. 



VIII 

THE QUINCY MANSION, QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS 
THE HOME OF THREE DOROTHY QUINCYS 

Among the settlers to whom Boston granted large 
allotments of outlying lands were William Coddington 
and Edmund Quinty. In 1635 they went, in company 
with their associate settlers, to " the mount," which 
became Braintree, now Quincy. 

By the side of a pleasant brook, under the shade of 
spreading trees, Coddington built in 1636 his house of 
four rooms. Downstairs was the kitchen and the living 
room, while upstairs were two bedrooms. The upper 
story overhung the lower in the old manner, and a 
generous chimney, which afforded room for a large open 
fireplace, dominated the whole. 



50 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

This house became the meeting place for a groap of 
seekers after religious liberty who were looked upon 
with suspicion in Boston — Rev. John Wheelwright, Sir 
Harry Vane, Atherton Hough, Ann Hutchinson, and 
others. In consequence of their views the company 
was soon broken up. Ann Hutchinson and Wheel- 
wright were banished, while Coddington would have 
been banished if he had not gone hastily to Rhode 
Island. 

Edmund Quincy, who succeeded to Coddington's 
house, probably would have been banished if he had 
not died before the decree could be pronounced. For 
a season his widow, Judith, lived in the house, which, 
from that time, became known as the Quincy Mansion. 
With her were the children, Edmund and Judith. 
Judith, who married at twenty, and became the mother 
of Hannah (Betsy) Hull, whose dowry, when she be- 
came the bride of Judge Samuel Sewell, was her weight 
in pine-tree shillings, the gift of her father, the master 
of the colony's mint. Florence Eoyce Davis has writ- 
ten of the wedding: 



" Then the great scales were brought, amid laughter and jest, 
And Betsy was called to step in and be weighed; 
But a silence fell over each wondering guest 
When the mint-master opened a ponderous chest 
And a fortune of shillings displayed. 

" By handfuls the silver was poured in one side 

Till it weighed from the floor blushing Betsy, the bride ; 
And the mint-master called: ' Prithee, Sewell, my son, 
The horses are saddled, the wedding is done; 
Behold the bride's portion; and know all your days 
Your wife is well worth every shilling she weighs.' " 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 51 

Edmund Quincy married at twenty-one, and became 
the next occupant of the mansion. During his long 
life there were welcomed to the hospitable roof many 
of those whose words and deeds prepared the way for 
the liberty that was to come to the country within a 
century. 

The second of the Quincy line was a leader in the 
town. At one time he was its representative in the 
General Court, and as colonel of the Suffolk Regiment, 
he was the first of a long list of colonels in the family. 
But the day came when it was written of him, " Unkel 
Quincy grows exceeding crazy," and in 1698 the second 
Edmund yielded the house to Edmund the third. 

This Edmund also became a colonel and a repre- 
sentative and, later, a judge of the Supreme Court. 
His pastor said of him, " This great man was of a manly 
Stature and Aspect, of a Strong Constitution and of 
Good Courage, fitted for any Business of Life, to serve 
God, his King and Country." Not only did he enlarge 
the glory of the family, but, in 1706, he enlarged the 
house, yet in such a way that the original Coddington 
house could be clearly traced after the improvements 
were finished. Judge Sewell, the cousin of the builder, 
was one of the welcome occupants of the improved 
house. On his way to Plymouth he stopped at " Brain- 
try." " I turned in to Cousin Quinsey," he said, " where 
I had the pleasure to see God in his Providence shining 
again upon the Persons and Affairs of the Family after 
long distressing Sickness and Losses. Lodged in the 
chamber next the Brooke." Later on another chamber 
near the brook was provided for Mrs. Quincy's brother. 
Tutor Flynt of Harvard, when he came that way for 
rest and change. 



52 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The oldest child of this generation was Edmund, 
whose daughter, Dorothy Quiney, married John Han- 
cock, while the fourth child was Dorothy Quiney, the 
great-grandmother of Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

The continuity of life at the mansion was sadly 
broken when, within a year, the grandmother, the 
mother, and the father died. The death of the latter 
occurred in England, where he had gone on business 
for the colony. When news came of the ending of 
his life, the General Court of Massachusetts declared 
that " he departed the delight of his own people, but 
of none more than the Senate, who, as a testimony of 
their love and gratitude, have ordered this epitaph to 
be inscribed on his tomb in Bunhill Fields, London." 

For a year Dorothy Quiney remained in the house; 
but on her marriage the place ceased for a time to be 
the chief residence of a Quiney. Edmund was in busi- 
ness in Boston. He resorted to the house for a season 
now and then, but his Boston home remained his perma- 
nent abiding place until after the birth of his daughter 
Dorothy. Then failing fortune sent him back to the 
ancestral home. 

During the next few years John Adams, Benjamin 
Franklin, and John Hancock were favored visitors at 
the mansion. John Hancock won Dorothy Quiney for 
his bride, and family tradition says that preparations 
were made for the wedding in the old home. " The 
large north parlor was adorned with a new wall paper, 
express from Paris, and appropriately figured with the 
forms of Venus and Cupid in blue, and pendant wreaths 
of flowers in red," writes the author of " Where Ameri- 
can Independence Began." But the approaching Revo- 
lution interfered. The bridegroom hurried away to 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 53 

Boston and then to Lexington. Dorothy, under the care 
of Mrs. Hancock, the mother of John Hancock, also 
went to Lexington on April 18, 1775, the very day when 
Paul Revere aroused the patriots, and Hancock was 
once more compelled to flee for his life. Four months 
later, at Fairfield, Connecticut, the lovers were married. 

The old mansion was never again the home of the 
Quincys. Josiah, brother of Edmund the fourth, built 
for himself in 1770 a beautiful home not far from the 
family headquarters. Here he lived through the war. 
Visitors to the house are shown on one of the windows 
the record he made of the departure of the British from 
Boston Harbor, scratched there when he saw the wel- 
come sight, on October 17, 1775. 

For much more than a century the house was in the 
hands of other families, but, fortunately, it has come 
under the control of the Colonial Dames of Massachu- 
setts. They have made it the historic monument it 
deserves to be. The visitors who are privileged to 
wander through the rooms hallowed by the presence 
of men and women who helped to pave the way for 
American independence read with hearty appreciation 
the lines which Holmes addressed to the portrait of his 
ancestress, " My Dorothy Q," as he called her : 

*' Grandmother's mother: her age, I guess 
Thirteen summers, or something less; 
Girlish bust, but womanly air ; 
Smooth, square forehead, with uproUed hair; 
Lips that lover has never kissed. 
Taper fingers and slender wrist; 
Hanging sleeves of stiff brocade; 
So they painted the little maid." 



54 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

IX 

FERNSIDE FARM, HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS 

THE BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD HOME OF 
JOHN G. WHITTIER 

The first house built by Thomas Whittier, the three- 
hundred-pound ancestor of the poet Whittier, and first 
representative of the family in America, was a little 
log cabin. There he took his wife, Ruth Flint, and 
there ten children were born. Five of them were boys, 
and each of them was more than six feet tall. 

No wonder the log house grew too small for the 
family. So, probably in 1688, he built a house whose 
massive hewn beams were fifteen inches square, whose 
kitchen was thirty feet long, with a fireplace eight feet 
wide. The rooms clustered about a central chimney. 

In this house the poet was born December 17, 1807, 
and here he spent the formative years of his life. When 
he was twenty-seven years old he wrote for The Little 
Pilgrim of Philadelphia a paper on " The Fish I Didn't 
Catch." In this he described the home of his boyhood : 

" Our old homestead nestled under a long range of 
hills which stretched off to the west. It was surrounded 
by woods in all directions save to the southeast, where 
a break in the leafy wall revealed a vista of low, green 
meadows, picturesque with wooded islands and jutting 
capes of upland. Through these, a small brook, noisy 
enough as it foamed, rippled and laughed down its rocky 
falls by our garden-side, wound, silently and scarcely 
visible, to a still larger stream, known as the Country 
Brook. This brook in its time, after doing duty at two 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 55 

or three saw and grist mills, the clack of which we 
could hear across the intervening woodlands, found its 
way to the great river, and the river took it up and 
bore it down to the great sea." 

Whittier's poems are full of references to the life on 
the farm ; many of his best verses had their inspiration 
in memories of the past. For instance, the description 
of the building of the fire in " Snow-Bound," a poem 
which describes the life at the farm when he was twelve 
years old, is a faithful picture of what took place in 
the old kitchen every night of the long New England 
winter, when 

" We piled, with care, our nightly stack 
Of wood against the chimney back — 
The oaken log, green, huge and thick, 
And on its top the thick back-stick; 
The knotty fore-stick laid apart, 
And filled between with curious art. 
The ragged brush; then, hovering near, 
We watched the first red blaze appear. 
Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam 
On whitewashed wall and sagging beam, 
Until the old, rude-fashioned room 
Burst, flower-like, into rosy bloom." 

Young Whittier was a faithful worker on the farm. 
One day, when he was nineteen years old, William Lloyd 
Garrison, the young editor of a Newburyport news- 
paper, to which Whittier had contributed a poem, found 
him assisting in repairing a stone wall. The visitor 
urged the father of the young poet to send him to school. 
As a result of this visit Whittier entered the Academy 
in Haverhill, with the understanding that he was to 
earn his way. 



56 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

At intervals during the succeeding ten years the poet 
returned to the old farm, but when he was thirty years 
old the place was sold, the family went to Amesbury, 
and he left soon afterward for Philadelphia, where he 
was to edit an anti-slavery paper. 

All through life Whittier dreamed of buying back 
the homestead. When he received a check for |1,000 
as the first proceeds from " Snow-Bound," he set the 
sum aside as the beginning of a redemption fund. 

But the citizens of Haverhill, led by Alfred A. Ord- 
way, asked the privilege of buying the property them- 
selves, and making it a memorial to the poet. Whittier 
died before the purchase was completed, but soon after- 
ward Fernside Farm, as the poet called it, was taken 
over by Mr. Ordway. It is now in the hands of an 
association that has restored it and keeps it open to 
visitors whose hearts have been stirred by the work 
of the Quaker poet. 



THE DUSTON GARRISON HOUSE, HAVERHILL, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM WHICH HANNAH DUSTON WAS CARRIED AWAY 
BY THE INDIANS 

The attention of visitors to Haverhill, Massachusetts, 
is attracted to a great granite boulder set in a place of 
honor in the old town. When they ask about it they 
are told the story of Hannah Duston, heroine. 

Thomas and Hannah Duston were married in 1677, 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 57 

and at once built a humble house of imported brick on 
the spot where the boulder now stands. Frequently 
one of the bricks is uncovered on the site; those who 
examine it marvel at the thought of the building mate- 
rial brought across the sea. 

Later Thomas Duston uncovered deposits of clay near 
his home which led him to make experiments in brick 
making. He was so successful that his product was 
in demand; villagers said that the Haverhill bricks 
were fully as good as those brought from England. 

Strong building material was needed, for hostile In- 
dians were all about. In order to afford protection 
against them, Mr. Duston determined to build a new 
house, which should serve as a garrison in time of dan- 
ger. By the village authorities he w^as appointed 
keeper of the garrison, as this commission shows: 

" To Thomas Duston, upon the settlement of garri- 
sons. You being appointed master of the garrison at 
your house, you are hereby in his Maj's name, required 
to see that a good watch is kept at your garrison both 
by night and by day by those persons hereafter named 
w^ho are to be under your command and inspection in 
building or repairing your garrison, and if any person 
refuse or neglect their duty, you are accordingly re- 
quired to make return of the same, under your hand to 
the Committee of militia in Haverhill." 

The new house was well under way when this com- 
mand was given. As it is still standing, it is possible 
to tell of its construction. A Haverhill writer says 
that " white oak, which is to-day well preserved, was 
used in its massive framework, and the floor and roof 
timbers are put together with great w^ooden pins. In 



58 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

earl}^ days the windows swung outward, and the 
glass was very thick, and set into the frames with 
lead." 

On March 15, 1697, the watching Indians decided 
that their opportunity had come to attack the village. 
They knew that if they waited for the completion of 
the new garrison, there would be little chance of suc- 
cess. So they struck at once. 

The story of what followed was told by Cotton 
Mather, in his " Magnalia Christi Americana," pub- 
lished in London in 1702: 

" On March 15, 1697, the Salvages made a Descent 
upon the Skirts of Haverhil, Murdering and Captiving 
about Thirty-nine Persons, and Burning about half a 
Dozen Houses. In the Broil, one Hannah Dustan hav- 
ing lain-in about a Week, attended with her Nurse, 
Mary Nefife a Widow, a Body of terrible Indians drew 
near unto the House where she lay, with Design to 
carry on their Bloody Devastations. Her Husband 
hastened from his Employment abroad unto the relief 
of his Distressed Family; and first bidding Seven of 
his Eight Children (which were from Two to Seventeen 
Years of Age) to get away as fast as they could into 
some Garrison in the Town, he went in to inform his 
Wife of the horrible Distress come upon them. E'er 
he could get up, the fierce Indians were got so near, 
that utterly despairing to do her any Service, he ran 
out after his Children. . . . He overtook his children 
about Forty Rod from his Door, ... a party of In- 
dians came up with him; and now though they Fired 
at him, and he Fired at them, yet he Manfully kept at 
the Reer of his Little Army of Unarmed Children, while 
they Marched off with the Pace of a Child of Five Years 
Old; until, by the Singular Providence of God, he ar- 
rived safe with them all unto a Place of Safety about 
a Mile or two from his House. . . . 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 59 

" The Nurse, trying to escape with the New-born In- 
fant, fell into the Hands of the Formidable Salvages; 
and those furious Tawnies coming into the House, bid 
poor Dustan to rise immediately. . . . 

" Dustan (with her Nurse) . . . travelled that Night 
about a Dozen Miles, and then kept up with their New 
Masters in a long Travel of an Hundred and Fifty 
Miles. . . . 

" The poor Women had nothing but Fervent Prayers 
to make their Lives Comfortable or Tolerable, and by 
being daily sent out upon Business, they had Oppor- 
tunities together and asunder to do like another Han- 
nah, in pouring out their Souls before the Lord." 

The Indians were " now Travelling with these Two 
Captive Women, (and an English Youth taken from 
Worcester a Year and half before,) unto a Rendez- 
vouz of Salvages which they call a Town somewhere 
beyond Penacook ; and they still told, these poor Women, 
that when they came to this Town they must be Stript, 
and Scourg'd, and Run the Gantlet through the whole 
Army of Indians. They said this was the Fashion 
when the Captives first came to a Town; . . , 

" But on April 30, while they were yet, it may be, 
about an Hundred and Fifty Miles from the Indian 
Town, a little before break of Day, when the whole Crew 
was in a Dead Sleep . . . one of these Women took up 
a Resolution to intimate the Action of Jael upon Sisera ; 
and being where she had not her own Life secured by 
any Law unto her, she thought she was not forbidden 
by any Law to take away the Life of the Murderers. 
. . . She heartened the Nurse and the Youth to assist 
her in this Enterprize; and all furnishing themselves 
with Hatchets for the purpose, they struck such home 
Blows upon the Heads of their Sleeping Oppressors, 
that e'er they could any of them struggle into any 
effectual resistance, at the Feet of those poor Prisoners, 
they bow'd, they fell, they lay down ; at their Feet they 
bowed, they fell; where they bowed, there they fell 
down Dead." 



60 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

One old squaw and a boy of eleven escaped to the 
forest. The scalps were not taken at first, but soon 
Hannah Duston returned to the camp and gathered 
the trophies, in order that she might claim the bounty 
offered by the colony for the scalps of hostile Indians. 
Then all the Indians' canoes were scuttled, their arms 
were taken, and the party of three embarked. 

Day after day they paddled down the Merrimac, the 
three taking turns in the unaccustomed labour. At 
night they paused to rest. Cautiously a fire was kin- 
dled, and food was cooked. Always they feared dis- 
covery by the bands of Indians. Two slept, while a 
third stood guard. But no Indians appeared. 

At last the home village was in sight. The wonder- 
ing villagers came out to see who the visitors could be. 
Their astonishment and delight can be imagined. 

The General Assembly of Massachusetts voted Mrs. 
Duston twenty-five pounds' reward, while a similar 
amount was divided between Mrs. Neff and the boy 
Samuel Lennardson. Later the governor of Maryland 
sent Mrs. Duston a silver tankard. 

The Duston descendants, who hold a reunion every 
year, prize these souvenirs. But most of all they prize 
a letter (the original of which is in the possession of 
the Haverhill Historical Society) written by Mrs. Dus- 
ton in 1723, in which she gave a wonderful testimony 
to God's goodness to her and hers. This is the message 
she gave to children and grandchildren : 

"I Desire to be thankful that I was born in a Land 
of Light & Baptized when I was young and had a good 
education by my Father, tho' I took but little notice 
of it in the time of it — I am Thankful for my Captivity, 
'twas the Comfortablest time that ever I had. In my 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 61 

AiHiction God made his Word Comfortable to me. I 
remember ye 43 ps. ult. [probably meaning last part] 
and those words came to my mind — ps. 118 :17 — I have 
had a great Desire to Come to the Ordinance of the 
Lord's Supper a Great while, but fearing I should give 
offense and fearing my own Unworthiness has kept me 
back. Reading a Book concerning X's Sufferings Did 
much awaken me. In the 55th of Isa. beg [beginning] 
We are invited to come: Hearing Mr. Moody preach 
out of ye 3rd of Mai. 3 last verses it put me upon Con- 
sideration. Ye 11th of Matt., ending, has been encour- 
aging to me — I have been resolving to offer my Self 
from time to time ever since the Settlement of the pres- 
ent Ministry. I was awakened by the first Sacraml 
Sermon [Luke 11:17]. But Delays and fears prevailed 
upon me: But I desire to Delay no longer, being Sen- 
sible it is my Duty — I desire the Church to receive me 
tho' it be the Eleventh hour; and pray for me that I 
may honer God and receive the Salvation of My Soul. 
" Hannah Duston, wife of Thomas, ^tat 67." 

Mrs. Duston lived in the old house at Haverhill for 
many years after her remarkable escape. 



XI 

THE OLD MANSE AND THE WAYSIDE, CONCORD, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

TWO HOUSES MADE FAMOUS BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 

Nathaniel Hawthorne was thirty-eight years old be- 
fore he was able to begin the ideal life of Adam with 
his Eve, to which he had looked forward for many 
years. 

" I want a little piece of land that I can call my 



62 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

own, big enough to stand upon, big enough to be buried 
in," he said to a friend when he was thirty-four years 
old. Lack of money delayed the realization, but it is 
a curious fact that the marriage to Sophia Peabody 
took place just after he had made up his mind that the 
thousand dollars he had invested in the Emerson Brook 
Farm experiment was gone forever. 

The marriage took place July 9, 1842, • and house- 
keeping was at once begun in the Old Manse at Con- 
cord, which was built in 1765 by Emerson's grandfather. 
But he was merely a renter; his dream of ownership 
was to be delayed ten years longer. The great rooms 
of the curious gambrel-roofed house were rather bare, 
and there was a scarcity of everything except love, yet 
the author and his bride found nothing but joy in the 
retired garden and the dormer-windowed house. 

Hawthorne's own charming description of the house 
and grounds is so attractive that the reader wishes to 
visit them: 

"Between two tall gateposts of rough-hewn stone 
(the gate itself having fallen from its hinges at some 
unknown epoch), we beheld the grey front of the old 
parsonage terminating the vista of an avenue of black 
ash trees. It was now a twelvemonth since the funeral 
procession of the venerable clergyman, the last in- 
habitant, had turned from that gateway toward the 
village burying ground. . . . 

" Nor, in truth, had the old manse ever been profaned 
by a lay occupant until that memorable summer after- 
noon when I entered it as my home. A priest had built 
it; a priest had succeeded to it; other priestly owners 
from time to time had dwelt in it; and children born 
in the chambers had grown up to assume the priestly 
character. It was aAvful to recollect how many sermons 
must have been written there. The latest inhabitant 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 63 

there — he by whose translation to paradise the dwelling 
was left vacant — had penned nearly three thousand dis- 
courses. . . . How often, no doubt, had he paced along 
the avenue, attuning his meditations to sighs and gentle 
murmurs, and deep and solemn peals of the wind among 
the leafy tops of the trees! ... I took shame to my- 
self for having been so long a writer of idle stories, and 
ventured to hope that wisdom would descend upon me 
Avith the falling leaves of the autumn, and that I should 
light upon an intellectual treasure in the Old Manse 
well worth those hoards of long-hidden gold which 
people seek for in moss-grown houses." 

Two years after their marriage, Mrs. Hawthorne 
wrote to her mother: 

" I have no time, as you may imagine. I am baby's 
tire-woman, hand-maiden, and tender, as well as nurs- 
ing mother. My husband relieves me with her con- 
stantly, and gets her to sleep beautifully. . . . The 
other day, when my husband saw me contemplating 
an appalling vacuum in his dressing-gown, he said he 
was a man of the largest rents in the country, and it 
was strange he had not more ready money. . . . But, 
somehow or other, I do not care much, because we are 
so happy." 

Hawthorne did much of his work in the rear room 
where Emerson wrote. In the introduction to " Mosses 
from an Old Manse" he said of this apartment: 

" When I first saw the room, the walls were blackened 
with the smoke of unnumbered years, and made still 
blacker by the grim prints of Puritan ministers, that 
hung around. . . . The rain pattered upon the roof and 
the sky gloomed through the dirty garret windows while 
I burrowed among the venerable books in search of any 
living thought." 



64 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

From liis writing Hawthorne turned easily to wan- 
dering in the garden or rowing on the river or helping 
his wife about the house. " We had a most enchanting- 
time during Mary the cook's holiday sojourn in Boston," 
Mrs. Hawthorne wrote at one time. " We remained in 
our bower undisturbed by mortal creature. Mr. Haw- 
thorne took the new phases of housekeeper, and, with 
that marvellous power of adaptation to circumstances 
that he possesses, made everything go easily and well. 
He rose betimes in the mornings and kindled fires in 
the kitchen and breakfast room, and by the time I came 
down the tea-kettle boiled and potatoes were baked and 
rice cooked, and my lord sat with a book superintend- 
ing." 

Poverty put an untimely end to life at the Old Manse. 
The years from 1846 to 1852 were spent in Boston and 
Salem. In 1852 Hawthorne was able to buy a dilapi- 
dated old house at Concord, which he called The Way- 
side. Here he remained until his appointment in 1853 
as American Consul at Liverpool, and to it he returned 
after long wandering. 

The Wayside had been the home of Bronson Alcott. 
Here Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne made their second real 
home. They rejoiced as, a little at a time, they were 
able to improve the property, and they showed always 
that they knew the secret of finding happiness in the 
midst of privations. 

Hawthorne described his new abode for his friend, 
George William Curtis: 

" As for my old house, you will understand it better 
after spending a day or two in it. Before Mr. Alcott 
took it in hand, it was a mean-looking affair, with two 
peaked gables ; no suggestion about it and no venerable- 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 65 

ness, although from the style of its architecture it seems 
to have survived beyond its first century. He added 
a porch in front, and a central peak, and a piazza at 
each end, and painted it a rusty olive hue, and invested 
the whole with a modest picturesqueness ; all which im- 
provements, together with the situation at the foot of 
a wooded hill, make it a place that one notices and re- 
members for a few minutes after passing it. . . . 

" The house stands within ten or fifteen feet of the 
old Boston road (along which the British marched and 
retreated), divided from it by a fence, and some trees 
and shrubbery of Mr. Alcotfs setting out. Wherefore 
I have called it ' The Wayside,' which I think a better 
name and more morally suggestive than that which, 
as Mr. Alcott has since told me, he bestowed on it, 
' The Hillside.' In front of the house, on the opposite 
side of the road, I have eight acres of land, — the only 
valuable portion of the place in a farmer's eye, and 
which are capable of being made very fertile. On the 
hither side, my territory extends some little distance 
over the brow of the hill, and is absolutely good for 
nothing, in a productive point of view, though very 
good for many other purposes. 

" I know nothing of the history of the house, except 
Thoreau's telling me that it was inhabited a generation 
or two ago by a man who believed he should never die. 
I believe, however, he is dead; at least, I hope so; else 
he may probably appear and dispute my title to his 
residence." 



In furnishing the house Mrs. Hawthorne took keen 
pleasure in putting the best of everything in her hus- 
band's study. She called it " the best room, the temple 
of the Muses and the Delphic shrine." 

In these surroundings, supported by a wife who wor- 
shipped him, Hawthorne wrote until the call came to 
go to England. It was 1860 before he returned to The 



66 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Wayside. There he hoped to end his life, but death 
overtook him at Plymouth, New Hampshire, while he 
was making a tour of New England with Franklin 
Pierce. Mrs. Hawthorne survived him seven years. 



XII 

THE ROYALL HOUSE, MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM WHOSE ROOF MOLLY STARK SIGNALLED TO 
HER HUSBAND 

One who is lamiliar with the old plantation houses 
of Virginia is tempted to rub his eyes when he first 
sees the Royall House at Medford, Massachusetts, for 
this relic of Colonial days has the outbuildings, the 
slave-quarters, and other characteristics of so many 
Virginia houses. True, it has not the low wings and 
the stately columns at the entrance, but the doorway 
is so chaste and dignified that this is not felt to be a 
lack. Those who enter the doorway and walk rever- 
ently through the rooms of what has been called the 
finest specimen of colonial architecture in the vicinity 
of Boston, are filled anew with admiration for the 
builders of another day who chose the finest white pine 
for their work, and would not dream of scamping any- 
where. Evidently there was little need in those days 
of the services of an inspector to see that the terms of 
a contract were carried out. 

The history of the property goes back to 1631, when 
Governor John Winthrop, the first governor of the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, who served for nineteen 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 67 

years, secured a grant to the farm on which, within 
six or seven years, the original dormer- windowed Royall 
House was built. This was smaller than the present 
house, but it was later incorporated in the present 
stately mansion; one story was added, and the outer 
wall was moved a few feet. Thus it is really a house 
within a house. 

At the time of Governor Winthrop's ownership it 
was called the Ten-Hill Farmhouse, because ten hills 
could be seen from its windows. John Winthrop, Jr., 
sold the place to Mrs. Elizabeth Lidgett. Lieutenant 
Governor Usher married a Lidgett, and owned the estate 
until he lost it through business reverses. The name 
was not changed until 1732, when the house was bought 
by Isaac Royall, a planter from Antigua, in the Lee- 
ward Islands, a descendant of William Royall of Salem. 
He paid £10,350 for the estate, which then consisted 
of five hundred and four acres. It was he who 
enlarged the house. For five years the neighbors 
watched the transformation of the comfortable Ten- 
Hill Farmhouse to the great Royall House, with its 
enclosing wall, elm-bordered driveway, pleasing garden, 
summerhouse, great barn, and rambling slave-quarters. 

Two generations of Royalls entertained lavishly here. 
Among the guests were the most celebrated men of the 
time, as well as many who were not so well known, for 
all were welcome there. Many of these guests drove 
up the driveway to the paved courtyard in their own 
grand equipages. Some were brought in the four-horse 
Royall chariot. But those who came on foot were 
welcomed as heartily. 

Isaac Royall, II, was a Tory, and in 1775 he was 
compelled to abandon the property. Thereupon Col- 



68 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

onel, later General, John Stark made it his headquar- 
ters. The regiment which he had himself raised, and 
whose wages he paid for a time from his own pocket, 
was encamped near by. From the Royall house these 
men and their intrepid leader went out to the Battle 
of Bunker Hill. 

Under the direction of Molly Stark the house main- 
tained its reputation for hospitality, and she did her 
best to make the place the abode of patriotism. On 
the day when the British evacuated Boston she prom- 
ised her husband to signal to him from the roof the 
movements of the enemy. Passing on with his soldiers 
to Dorchester Heights, he anxiously awaited the news 
sent to him by his faithful Molly. 

The Royall family regained possession of the prop- 
erty in 1805. To-day it is owned by the Royall House 
Association, which keeps it open to the visitors. These 
come in large numbers to see relics of former days, 
including what is said to be the only chest that sur- 
vived the Boston Tea Party, the sign of the Royall Oak 
Tavern in Medford, which bears the marks of the bullets 
of the soldiers who were on their way to the Battle of 
Bunker Hill, the old furniture, the first fork used in 
the Colony, and the furnishings of the quaint kitchen 
fireplace, which dates from 1732. 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 69 



XIII 

BROADHEARTH AND THE BENNET-BOARDMAN 
HOUSE, SAUGUS, MASSACHUSETTS 

TWO REMARKABLE SPECIMENS OF THE OVERHANG HOUSE 

" Thomas Dexter of Lyn, yeoman," was the first 
owner of much of the land on which Lynn, Massachu- 
setts, is built. Evidently he was land poor, for on 
October 22, 1639, he " mortgaged his fearme in Lyn 
. . . for two oxen & 2 bulls upon condition of payment 
to Simon Broadstreet of Ipswich £90 the first day of 
August, the next following with a reservation upon the 
sale of the said fearme to give the said Dexter the over- 
flow above the debt and damages of the said £90." 

Six years later the Registry of Deeds at Salem told 
of the sale, to Richard Leader, Gent, of England, of 
a bit of the farm on which Governor Broadstreet held 
a mortgage. Mr. Leader was the agent of " ye Com- 
pany of undertakers of ye Iron Works," and he thought 
that Dexter had the best location for the purposes of 
the company that proposed to start what proved to be 
the first successful iron works in the Colonies. The 
quaint story of the transaction was entered thus: 

"Thomas Dexter of Lyn in the County of Essex 
ye[oman] for the sum of 40 £ st[erling] hath sowld 
unto Richard Leder for ye use of ye Iron works all 
that land, wch by reason of [a] damme now agreed to 
be made, shall overflow and all sufficient ground for 
a water course from the damme, to the works to be 



70 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

erected, and alsoe all [the] land betweue the an[cient] 
water course and the new extended flume or water 
course togeather with five acres and an halfe of land 
lying in the corn field most convenient for the Iron 
Works and also tooe convenient cartwayes that is to 
one on each side of the premises as by a deed indented 
bearing date the tweutie seaventh of January, 1645, 
more at lardge apth." 

On the ground thus bought a sturdy house, Broad- 
hearth, was built in 1646. The second story overhung 
the first story, after the manner of many English houses 
of the period. The overhang is still in evidence, though 
a veranda has hidden it except to the careful observer. 

The first product of the iron works, a kettle, was 
made in 1642. This is still in existence. During more 
than one hundred years neighboring colonists looked 
to the foundry for their supplies of house hardware, 
furnishings, and implements of iron. The site of the 
foundry was opposite the house, while traces of the 
pits from which the bog ore was dug are easily found 
in the field at the rear. Remains of scoria and slag 
are also pointed out to the visitor by employees of the 
Wallace Nutting Corporation, which has restored the 
house as nearly as possible to its original condition and 
has placed in it furniture of the period. A caretaker 
has been placed in charge who will copy for applicants 
iron work in the house, or other old examples. Thus, 
in a modest way, the Saugus Iron Works has been 
reestablished. 

Another specimen of the overhang house is not far 
away. This is the house built some time between 1649 
and 1656 by Samuel Bennet, carpenter. It is famous 
as the house that has been in two counties, Suffolk and 




BROADHEARTH, SAUGUS, MASS. 



Photo by Wallace Nutting, Inc., Framingham Center, Masx 



i?;,^ 




BEN.\KTT-B(JAKDMA.\ IluL'SK, SAL(JL"S, MASS. 



Photo by HaliiiUiy lU^U/ric Photograph Company 

See page 69 




Photo Furnished by Rev. A. McDonald, Newburyport, Mass. 



LD SOUTH CHURCH, NEWBURYPORT, MASS. 



See page 75 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 71 

Essex, and in four towns, Boston, Lynn, Chelsea, and 
Saugus. 

That it was once in Boston was due to the narrow 
strip of the territory of the city that stretched far out 
in the country, somewhat after the manner of a portion 
of a modern gerrymandered legislative district. When 
the district was set off as Chelsea and Lynn, in response 
to a petition of citizens who were inconvenienced by 
their distance from town meetings, the boundaries be- 
tween Chelsea and Lynn were carelessly marked; one 
line ran directly through the front door and the chim- 
ney of the Bennet house. This mistake, which caused 
annoyance and expense to those who occupied the house, 
was not corrected for more than one hundred years. 
Finally Abijah Boardman asked that he be relieved 
of his double liability to Lynn and Chelsea, and in 
1803, by Act of the General Court, the petition was 
granted. 

Bennet, the builder of the house, figured more than 
once in the courts. In 1644 the Grand Jury indicted 
him as " a Common sleeper in time of exercise," and 
he was fined 2s. 6d. In 1671 he brought suit against 
the Iron Works Company for £400 for labor. In con- 
nection with this suit John Paule, whose " constant 
employment was to repair carts, coale carts, mine carts, 
and other working materials " for the " tiemes " at the 
iron works, testified that " my master Bennet did 
yearly yearme a vast sum from said Iron Works, for 
he commonly yearmed forty or fifty shillings a daye., 
for he had five or six teemes goeing generally every 
faire day." 

Bennets and Boardmans have held the house from 
the beginning. The Society for the Preservation of 



72 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

New England Antiquities has interested itself in the 
protection of the property. 



XIV 

THE COLONEL JEREMIAH LEE HOUSE, 
MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS 

THE HOME OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST MARTYRS TO THE 
CAUSE OF THE COLONIES 

Marblehead was a comparatively insignificant port 
when Jeremiah Lee came to town. At once he made 
a place for himself among the humble fishermen and 
other seafaring men of the place. He was a member 
of the Board of Firewards in the town's first fire de- 
partment, and he served on important committees. 

When, in 1768, he built a wonderful mansion that 
cost more than ten thousand pounds, the most wonder- 
ful house in Massachusetts at the time, his townsmen 
knew him well enough to understand that he was their 
good friend, even if he did have much more money than 
any of them. 

The Lee Mansion was a hospitable home. The Col- 
onel and his wife Martha entertained lavishly, not only 
the people of the town but famous men from abroad. 
In 1789 Washington was entertained in the house. But 
it was one of the glories of the mansion that the hum- 
blest mariner in the place was not slow to go there if 
he wished to have a chat with the bluff owner or if he 
desired to go to the quaint cupola from w^hich it is 
possible to look far out to sea. To this outlook Colonel 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 73^ 

Lee himself often went, for his ships were sailing to 
Marblehead from all parts of the world, and he was 
as eager as any one to turn his eyes seaward. 

The house is sixty-four feet by forty-six feet, and the 
walls are of brick, though they are covered with wooden 
clapboards two feet by one and a half feet. There 
are fifteen rooms, in addition to the great halls that 
make the house seem like a palace. 

In these rooms the Colonel conferred with other 
patriots as to the welfare of Massachusetts and all the 
colonies. From the house he went out to the town 
meetings where the men gathered to talk over the Bos- 
ton Port Bill and the Boston Tea Party and questions 
of Taxation without Representation. 

He rejoiced to serve as a representative in the Gen- 
eral Court and on the Committee of Safety and Sup- 
plies of the Province. He was chosen to represent the 
town in the Continental Congress, and when he was 
unable to go, Elbridge Gerry, who later became Vice- 
President of the United States, was sent in his place 
at the expense of the town. 

On the night of April 18, 1775, in company with 
Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orin, who were members with 
him of the Committee of Safety and Supplies, he was 
attending a meeting at Weatherby's Black Horse Tav- 
ern just outside of Cambridge. The meeting adjourned 
so late that the three men decided to spend the night 
at the tavern. The eight hundred British soldiers who 
were on their way that night to Lexington learned of 
the presence in Cambridge of the patriots. Some one 
rushed to the tavern and roused them from slumber. 
They did not even have time to put on their clothes, 
but ran at once from the house and hid themselves at 



74 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

some distance from the tavern. When the disappointed 
troops had gone on, the hunted men returned to their 
room. 

Three weeks later Lee died as the result of the ex- 
posure. He has been called one of the earliest martyrs 
to the cause of the Colonies. Before he died he left 
directions that five thousand pounds should be given 
to the treasury of the provinces. 

Mrs. Lee, who was Martha Swett of Marblehead, 
lived on in the mansion with those of her eight children 
who had not gone already to homes of their own. 
Under her guidance the hospitality for which the house 
had become noted was maintained. 

Those who pass between the beautiful porch pillars 
and enter the chaste colonial doorway are amazed at 
the remarkable hallway and the stairs. The hall is 
fifteen feet wide and extends the length of the house. 
It is heavily wainscoted with mahogany. On the walls 
hangs remarkable panelled paper whose designs, depict- 
ing ancient architecture, are in keeping with the ma- 
jestic proportions of the place. The stairway is so 
wide that four or five people can climb it abreast and 
the balustrade and the spindles are of exquisite work- 
manship. 

The rear stairway is far more ornate than the best 
stairway in most houses, and the rooms are in keeping 
with the hall and the stairways. 

The cupola is one of the most striking features of 
the house. Here six windows give a view that is worth 
going far to see. 

When Mrs. Lee died, the property descended to her 
son. Judge Samuel Sewell was a later owner. But 
the day came when it was to be sold at auction. All 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 75 

Marblehead feared that the historic place would be 
destroyed. Fortunately the Marblehead Historical So- 
ciety was able to raise the fifty-five hundred dollars 
needed to secure it. 

Since July 9, 1909, the Society has owned the man- 
sion. For six months of every year it is open to visitors 
who throng to see the choice collection of china, por- 
traits, embroidery, and furniture that has been gath- 
ered together by the Society. 



XV 



THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH, NEWBURYPORT, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE GEORGE WHITEFIELD, THE GREAT EVANGELIST, 
IS BURIED 

More than one hundred years after the organization 
of the First Church of Newburyport, Rev. George 
Whitefield, then a young man of twenty-six, preached 
in the community. " The Great Awakening," which 
follow^ed, spread all over New England, and more than 
thirty thousand were converted. Whitefield, Jonathan 
Edwards, the Tennents, and others led in the work that 
had such wonderful results. 

Five years after Whitefield's visit to Newburyport 
the Old South Church was organized, most of those 
who became members having been converted under 
Whitefield's preaching. The new church was actually 
a Presbyterian church from the beginning, though it 



76 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

did not finally adopt the Presbyterian form of govern- 
ment until 1802. 

The members of the new church were called " a mis- 
guided band," and " new schemers." Their first pastor 
was called a dissenting minister. Their protest against 
these aspersions took the form of a petition to " The 
King's Most Excellent Majesty," which was a prayer 
for that " equal liberty of conscience in worshipping 
God " that had already been granted to others. The 
petition recited the desire of the people to be relieved 
of taxation " for the support of ministers on whose 
ministry they cannot in conscience attend," and stated 
that, because of their refusal to pay what they felt were 
unjust taxes, " honest and peaceable men have been 
hauled away to prison to their great hurt and damage." 

When the petition was presented to the king by Mr. 
Partridge, their agent, he declared that they were not 
" a wild, friekish people," and cited as an argument 
for relief from double taxation that, while they had 
some wealthy members, there were among them " more 
poor widows than all the other congregations in town 
put together." He said those who protested against 
double taxation had been " dragged about upon the 
ground," dressed up in bear skins and worried, and 
imprisoned. 

The protest did not bring relief at once; it was 1773 
before the General Court granted the plea of the mem- 
bers. For more than twenty years more the town tried 
to collect double taxes, but in 1795 the rights of the 
members of Old South were conceded. 

The first building, erected in 1743, gave way in 1756 
to the structure still in use. Alterations made since 
that time have not made any great change in its appear- 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 77 

ance, except in the tower, which was repaired in 1848, 
because it was thought that the timber must be decay- 
ing. However, to the surprise of the carpenters who 
undertook the repairs, they were found as sound as ever, 
A half-hour was required to saw through one of them ! 

The bell in the new tower was cast by Paul Revere. 
Surmounting the spire is a cock which was perched on 
the original tower. When this tower, after the car- 
penters had done all they could with their saws, was 
pulled over by horses and oxen, the cock broke loose 
and fell at some distance. The man who picked up 
the figure was surprised to find that it was of solid 
copper, instead of wood, as had been thought, and that 
it weighed more than fifty pounds. 

In the original pews there was a central chair, sur- 
rounded by seats hung on hinges. Over the pulpit was 
a sounding board. At the head of the pulpit stair a 
seat was provided for the sexton, that he might be on 
hand to trim the candles during the evening service. 

The official history of the church, written by Dr. 
H. C. Hovey, gives interesting facts concerning the 
heating of the old building: 

" For seventy years those who crowded this church 
depended on footstoves altogether for warmth in win- 
ter; while the minister preached in his ample cloak, 
and wore gloves with a finger and thumb cut off to 
enable him the better to turn the leaves. A law was 
made allowing the sexton twenty cents for each foot- 
stove that he had to fill before service and remove after- 
ward. A great sensation was made in 1819 by the 
introduction of wood stoves at an outlay of |100. The 
first day they were in place the people were so over- 
come that some of them fainted away and were carried 
out of the house; but they revived on learning that as 



78 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

yet no fire had been kindled in the new stoves. The 
doors of the stoves opened into the ample vestibule, 
where the custom continued of ranging the many foot- 
stoves in a wide circle to be filled with live coals from 
the stove." 

On the Sunday after the battle of Lexington Dr. 
Jonathan Parsons made an appeal in the name of lib- 
erty. After this Captain Ezra Lunt stepped into the 
aisle and formed a company of sixty men, which is said 
to have been the first company of volunteers to join 
the Continental Army. 

Later Newburyport supplied a number of companies. 
But the call came for still another company. " Day 
after day the recruiting officers toiled in vain," Dr. 
Hovey writes, "Finally the regiment was invited to 
the Presbyterian church, where they were addressed 
in such spirited and stirring words that once again a 
number of this church stepped forth to take the cove- 
nant, and in two hours after the benediction had been 
spoken the entire company was raised." 

During the war twenty-two vessels and one thousand 
men, from the towns of Newbury and Newburyport, 
were lost at sea. The first American flag seen in Brit- 
ish waters, after the cessation of hostilities, was dis- 
played in the Thames by Nicholas Johnson of New- 
buryport, captain of the Compte de Grasse. 

Among the treasures of the church is the Bible which 
Whitefield used. The evangelist, who died Sunday, 
September 30, 1770, is buried in the crypt under the 
pulpit where he had planned to preach on the very day 
of his death, as he had preached many times during 
the years since the building of the church. To this 
dark crypt thousands of reverent visitors have groped 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 79 

their way. One, less reverent, removed an arm of the 
skeleton and carried it to England as a relic. No one 
knew what had become of it until, after the death of 
the thief, it was returned to Newburyport, together 
with a bust of Whitefield. This bust is also one of the 
treasures of Old South. 

Those who love this old church at Newburyport de- 
light in the lines of John Greenleaf Whittier: 

** Under the church of Federal Street, 
Under the tread of its Sabbath feet, 
Walled about by its basement stones, 
Lie the marvellous preacher's bones. 
No saintly honors to them are shown, 
No sign nor miracle have they known ; 
But he who passes the ancient church 
Stops in the shade of its belfry-porch, 
And ponders the wonderful life of him 
Who lies at rest in that charnel dim. 
Long shall the traveller strain his eye 
From the railroad car, as it plunges by. 
And the vanishing town behind him search 
For the slender spire of the Whitefield Church; 
And feel for one moment the ghosts of trade 
And fashion and folly and pleasure laid, 
By the thought of that life of pure intent, 
That voice of warning, yet eloquent. 
Of one on the errands of angels sent. 
And if where he labored the flood of sin 
Like the tide from the harbor-bar sets in. 
And over a life of time and sense 
The church-spires lift their vain defence, 
As if to scatter the bolts of God 
With the points of Calvin's thunder-rod, — 
Still, as the gem of its civic crown, 
Precious beyond the world's renown. 
His memory hallows the ancient town! " 



80 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XVI 

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, 
RHODE ISLAND 

THE OLDEST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA 

When Roger Williams, Welsliman, left England for 
America because he could not find in the Church of 
England freedom to worship God according to his con- 
science, he came to Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony. There he joined others who had sought Amer- 
ica for the same purpose, but to his disappointment 
he found that his ideas of liberty of worship did not 
agree with theirs, and he was once more adrift. On 
October 9, 1635, the authorities of the Colony ordered 
that he " shall depart out of this jurisdiction." He was 
later given permission to remain until spring, on con- 
dition that he make no attempt " to draw others to his 
opinions." 

On the ground that he had broken the implied agree- 
ment, the Governor, on January 11, 1636, sent for him 
to go to Boston, from whence he was to be banished to 
England. Williams sent word that he was ill and could 
not come at the time. A force of men was sent to seize 
him, but when they reached his house he had departed 
already, turning his face toward the southern wilder- 
ness. He was " sorely tossed for fourteen weeks in 
a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed 
did mean." 

On April 30, 1636, he came to the country of the 
Wampanoags, where the sachem Massasoit made him 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS SI 

a grant of land. Within a short time some of his friends 
joined him, and primitive houses were built. Then 
came word from the Governor of Massachusetts Bay 
that he must go beyond the bounds of the Plymouth 
Colony. Accordingly, with six others, he embarked in 
canoes and sought for a location. When this was found 
Canonicus and Mantonomi agreed to let the company 
have lands, and soon the new settlement was made and 
named Providence, in recognition of God's care of him 
during his journey. Then others joined him and his 
companions. 

Two years after the settlement of Providence twelve 
of the citizens decided that they must have a church. 
One of the company, Ezekiel Hollyman, baptized Roger 
Williams and Williams baptized Hollyman and ten 
others. The twelve then baptized were the original 
members of the first church of Providence, Rhode 
Island, the first Baptist church in America, and the 
second in the world. Roger Williams was the first 
pastor, but he withdrew before the close of the year 
in which the church was organised. During the re- 
maining forty-five years of his life he remained in 
Providence as a missionary among the Indians, whose 
friendship he had won by his scrupulously careful and 
honorable method of dealing with them. 

The church met in private houses or under the trees, 
for more than sixty years. The first meeting house 
was not erected until 1700. The builder was Pardon 
Tillinghast, the sixth pastor of the church, who, like 
his predecessors, served without salary. However, he 
urged that the church should begin to pay its way, and 
that his successor should receive a stipulated salary. 
The Tillinghast building was in use for fifteen years 



82 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

after it was deeded to the congregation, in 1711. The 
deed, which is on record at the Providence City Hall, 
calls the church a " Six-Principle church." 

The growth of the congregation called for a larger 
building. This was erected in 1726 and was used until 
1774. An old document gives an interesting side light 
on the building of the meeting house. This is an ac- 
count of Richard Brown, dated May 30, 1726, which 
reads : 

The account of what charge I have been at this day 
as to the providing a dinner for the people that raised 
the Baptist meeting-house at Providence (it being raised 
this day, ) is as f olloweth : 

One fat sheep, which weighed forty-three lbs. £0, 14, 04 
For roasting the said sheep, etc. 8 

For one lb. butter 1 

For two loaves of bread which weighed fifteen lbs. 2 
For half a peck of peas 1.03 

When the building was planned the Charitable Bap- 
tist Society was incorporated, that it might hold title 
to " a meeting-house for the public worship of Almighty 
God, and to hold Commencement in." Nearly a third 
of the £7,000 required for the new building was 
raised by a lottery, authorized by the State. The archi- 
tects modelled the church after the popular St. Martins- 
in-the-Fields in London, whose designer was James 
Gibbs, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. 

In the two-hundred-foot spire was hung the bell made 
in London, on which were inscribed the strange words : 

" For freedom of conscience this town was first planted; 
Persuasion, not force was used by the people: 
This Church is the eldest, and has not recanted, 
Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple." 



IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS 83 

The pastor at the time the new church was first oc- 
cupied, on May 28, 1775, was president of Rhode Island 
College, an institution which had been located in Provi- 
dence in 1773, in consequence of the generosity and 
activity of the members of the church. The institution 
later became Brown University. Every one of the 
presidents of the college has been a member of the 
First Church. 

A church whose building was dedicated " midway 
between the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill " 
should have a patriotic history. The story of Provi- 
dence during the Revolution shows that the members 
were keenly alive to their opportunities. The first sug- 
gestion for the Continental Congress came from Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island was the first State to declare for 
independence. Pastor and people were ardent sup- 
porters of these movements. Many soldiers were fur- 
nished to the army by the congregation. 

Naturally, then, people would be interested in a man 
like Stephen Gano, who became pastor in 1792. He 
had been a surgeon in the Revolutionary Army, and had 
been taken prisoner, put on board a prison-ship, and 
bound in chains, which made scars that lasted for life. 
His pastorate of thirty-six years was the longest in the 
history of the church. 

The stately building erected in 1774 is still in use. 
The gallery long set apart for the use of slaves has 
given way to a square loft, the old pews have been dis- 
placed by modern seats, and the lofty pulpit and sound- 
ing-board have disappeared. Otherwise the church is 
much as it was when the first congregation entered its 
doors in 1775. 



TWO: WHERE PATROONS AND 
KNICKERBOCKERS FLOURISHED 



Where nowadays the Battery lies, 

New York had just begun, 
A new-born babe, to rub its eyes, 

In Sixteen Sixty- One. 
They christened it Nieuw Amsterdam, 

Those burghers grave and stately, 
And so, tcith schnapps and smoke and psalm, 

Lived out their lives sedately. 

Two windmills topped their wooden wall, 

On stadthuys gazing down, 
On fort, and cabbage-plots, and all 

The quaintly gabled town; 
These flapped their wings and shifted backs. 

As ancient scrolls determine. 
To scare the savage Hackensacks, 

Paumanks, and other vermin. 

At night the loyal settlers lay 

Betivixt their feather-beds; 
In hose and breeches loalked by day. 

And smoked, and wagged their heads. 
No changeful fashions came from France, 

The vrouwleins to bewilder; 
No broad-brimmed burgher spent for pants 

His every other guilder. 

In petticoats of linsey red. 

And jackets neatly kept. 
The vrouics their knitting-needles sped 

And deftly spun and swept. 
Few modern-school flirtations there 

Set wheels of scandal trundling. 
But youths and maidens did their share 

Of staid, old-fashioned bundling. 

Edmund Ciabence Stedman. 



TWO: WHERE PATROONS AND KNICKER- 
BOCKERS FLOURISHED 

XVII 
THE MORRIS-JUMEL MANSION, NEW YORK CITY 

WHERE WASHINGTON ESCAPED FROM THE BRITISH BY A 
FIFTEEN MINUTE MARGIN 

" A Pleasant situated Farm, on the Road leading to 
King's Bridge, in the Township of Harlem, on York- 
Island, containing about 100 acres, near 30 acres of 
which is Wood-land, a fine piece of Meadow Ground, 
and more easily be made: and commands the finest 
Prospect in the whole Country : the Land runs from 
River to River: there is Fishing, Oystering, and Clam- 
ing at either end. ..." 

W^hen, in 1765, Roger Morris, whose city house was 
at the corner of Whitehall and Stone streets, saw this 
advertisement in the New York Mercury, he hungered 
for the country. So he bought the offered land, and 
by the summer of 1766 he had completed the sturdy 
Georgian house that, after a century and a half, looks 
down on the city that has grown to it and beyond it. 

In an advertisement published in 1792, in the New 
York Daily Advertiser, a pleasing description of the 
mansion of Roger Morris was given: 

" On the premises is a large dwelling-house, built in 
modern style and taste and elegance. It has ... a 

87 



88 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

large hall through the centre; a spacious dining room 
on the right. . . . On the left is a handsome parlor 
and a large back room. . . . On the second floor are 
seven bedchambers. . . . On the upper floor are five 
lodging rooms . . . and at the top of the house is af- 
fixed an electric conducter. Underneath the building 
are a large, commodious kitchen and laundry and wine 
cellar, storeroom, kitchen pantry, sleeping apartments 
for servants, and a most complete dairy room. ..." 

For nine years Roger Morris and his family lived in 
the mansion on the Heights. As a member of the 
Legislative Council much of his time was given to the 
interests of his fellow-citizens. But as time passed he 
found himself out of sympathy with his neighbors. 
They demanded war with Great Britain, and he felt 
that he could not join the revolt. Accordingly, in 1775, 
he sailed for England, leaving his large property in 
the care of Mrs. Morris. 

Mrs. Morris kept the house open for a time, but 
finally, taking her children with her, she went to her 
sister-in-law at the Philipse Manor House at Yonkers. 

On September 14, 1776, General Washington decided 
to abandon the city to the British. He planned to go 
to Harlem, to the fortification prepared in anticipation 
of just such an emergency. On September 15 he took 
possession of the Roger Morris house as headquarters. 
Two days later his Orderly Book shows the following 
message, referring to the battle of Harlem Heights: 

"The General most heartily thanks the troops com- 
manded yesterday by Major Leitch, who first advanced 
upon the enemy, and the others who so resolutely sup- 
ported them. The behavior of yesterday was such a 
contrast to that of some troops the day before [at 



PATROONS AND KNICKEEBOCKERS 89 

Kip's Bay] as must sliow wliat may be done when 
Officers and Soldiers exert themselves." 

During the weeks when the mansion remained Wash- 
ington's headquarters the curious early flag of the col- 
onists waved above it. In the space now given to the 
stars was the British Union Jack, while the thirteen 
red and white stripes that were to become so familiar 
completed the design. This flag the English called 
" the Rebellious Stripes." 

On November 16, 1776, Washington was at Fort Lee, 
on the New Jersey shore, opposite the present 160th 
Street. Desiring to view^ from the Heights the British 
operations in their attack on Fort Washington, he 
crossed over to the Morris house. Fifteen minutes 
after he left the Heights to return to New Jersey, four- 
teen thousand British and Hessian troops took posses- 
sion of the Heights, the Morris Mansion, and Fort 
Washington. 

The period of British occupation continued, at in- 
tervals, until near the close of the war. Since the 
owner was a Loyalist, the British Government paid 
rent for it. 

After the Revolution the property was confiscated, 
as appears from an entry in Washington's diary, dated 
July 10, 1790 : 

" Having formed a Party consisting of the Vice- 
President, his lady. Son & Miss Smith; the Secretaries 
of State, Treasury, & War, and the ladies of the two 
latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear 
& the two Children, we visited the old position of Fort 
Washington, and afterwards dined on a dinner pro- 
vided by a Mr. Mariner at the House lately Colo. Roger 



90 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Morris, but confiscated and in the occupation of a 
common Farmer." 



For nearly thirty years after the Revolution the 
stately old house was occupied as a farmhouse or as 
a tavern. In 1810 it became the home of Stephen Jumel, 
a wealthy New York merchant, whose widow, Madam 
Jumel, later gave such wonderful entertainments in the 
house that the whole city talked about her. After many 
years of life alone in the mansion, in July, 1833, she 
married Aaron Burr. He was then seventy-two years 
old, while she was fifty-nine. 

Madam Jumel-Burr lived until July 16, 1865. Dur- 
ing her last years she was demented and did many 
strange things. For a time she maintained an armed 
garrison in the house, and she rode daily about the 
grounds at the head of fifteen or twenty men. 

The mansion passed through a number of hands 
until, in 1903, title to it was taken by the City of New 
York, on payment of |235,000. 

For three years the vacant house was at the mercy 
of souvenir hunters, but when, in 1906, it was turned 
over to the Daughters of the American Revolution, to 
be used as a Revolutionary Museum, twelve thousand 
dollars were appropriated for repairs and restoration. 
This amount was woefully inadequate, but it is hoped 
that further appropriation will make complete restora- 
tion possible. 

The spacious grounds that once belonged to the man- 
sion have been sold for building lots, but the house 
looks down proudly as ever from its lofty site almost 
opposite the intersection of Tenth Avenue and One 
Hundred and Sixty-first Street with St. Nicholas 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKEES 91 

Avenue, The corner of its original dooryard is now 
Roger Morris Park. 



XVIII 

THE PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE, YONKERS, 
NEW YORK 

THE HOME OF MARY PHILIPSE, IN WHOM GEORGE 
WASHINGTON WAS INTERESTED 

At first glance one would not think that the name 
Yonkers was derived very directly from the name of 
the first settlers of the region, de Jonkheer Adriaen 
Van der Donck. When, in 1646, he secured a large 
tract of land bounded by the Hudson, the Bronx, and 
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, this was called " Colen Donck " 
(Donck's Colony) or " De Jonkheer's " (the Young 
Lord's). As the Dutch "j" is pronounced "y," the 
transition from Jonkheers to Yonkers was easy. 

On September 29, 1672, after the death of the original 
owner, 7,708 acres of the princely estate were sold to 
three men, of whom Frederick Philipse (originally 
Ffreric Vlypse) was one. A few years later Philipse 
bought out the heirs of the other two purchasers, and 
added to his holdings by further purchases from his 
countrymen and from the Indians. On June 12, 1693, 
lie was permitted to call himself lord of the Manor of 
Philipsburgh. From that day the carpenter from Fries- 
land, who had grown so rich that he was called " the 
Dutch millionaire," lived in state in the house he had 
begun in 1682. 



92 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

This lord of the manor became still more important 
in consequence of the acceptance of his offer to build 
a bridge over Spuyt-den-duyvil, or " Spiting Devil " 
Creek, when the city declined to do so for lack of funds. 
The deed given to him stated that he had " power and 
authority to erect a bridge over the water or river com- 
monly called Spiten devil ferry or Paparimeno, and to 
receive toll from all passengers and drovers of cattle 
that shall pass thereon, according to rates hereinafter 
mentioned." This bridge, which was called Kings- 
bridge, was a great source of revenue until 1713, when 
it was removed to the present site. Then tolls were 
charged until 1759, or, nominally, until 1779. 

Part of the Manor House was used as a trading post. 
Everything Philipse handled seemed to turn into gold. 
All his ventures prospered. It was whispered that 
some of these ventures were more than a little shady, 
that he had dealings with pirates and shared in their 
ill-gotten gains, and that he even went into partnership 
with Captain Kidd when that once honest man became 
the prince of the very pirates whom the Government 
had commissioned him to apprehend. And Philipse, 
as a member of the Governor's Council, had recom- 
mended this Kidd as the best man for the job! It is 
not strange that the lord of the manor felt constrained 
to resign his seat in the council because of the popular 
belief in the statement made by the Governor, that 
" Kidd's missing treasures could be readily found if 
the coffers of Frederick Philipse were searched." 

Colonel Frederick Philipse, the great-grandson of 
Captain Kidd's partner, enlarged the Manor House to 
its present proportions and appearance. He also was 
prominent in the affairs of the Colony. He was a mem- 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 93 

ber of the Provincial Assembly, and was chairman of 
a meeting called on August 20, 1774, to select delegates 
to the county convention which was to select a repre- 
sentative to the First Continental Congress. Thus, 
ostensibly, he was taking his place with those who were 
crying out for the redress of grievances suffered at the 
hands of Great Britain. Yet it was not long until it 
was evident that he was openly arrayed with those who 
declined to turn from their allegiance to#the king. 

The most famous event that took place in the Philipse 
Manor was the marriage, on January 28, 1758, of the 
celebrated beauty, Mary Philipse, to Colonel Roger 
Morris. A letter from Joseph Chew to George Wash- 
ington, dated July 13, 1757, shows that — in the opinion 
of the writer, at least — the young Virginian soldier was 
especially interested in Mary Philipse. In this letter, 
which he wrote after his return from a visit to Mrs. 
Beverly Robinson in New York, the sister of Mary 
Philipse, he said: 

" I often had the Pleasure of Breakfasting with the 
Charming Polly, Roger Morris was there (Don't be 
startled) but not always, you know him he is a Lady's 
man, always something to say, the Town talk't of it 
as a sure & settled Affair. I can't say I think so and 
that I much doubt it, but assure you had Little Ac- 
quaintance with Mr. Morris and only slightly hinted 
it to Miss Polly, but how can you be Excused to Con- 
tinue so long in Phila. I think I should have made a 
kind of Flying March of it if it had been only to have 
seen whether the Works were sulficient to withstand 
a Vigorous Attack, you a soldier and a Lover, mind 
I have been arguing for my own Interest now for had 
you taken this method then I should have had the 
Pleasure of seeing you — my Paper is almost full and 
I am Convinced you will be heartily tyred in Reading 



94 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

it — however will just add that I intend to set out to- 
morrow for New York where I will not be wanting to 
let Miss Polly know the Sincere Regard a Friend of 
mine has for her — and I am sure if she had my Eyes 
to see thro would Prefer him to all others." 

While it is true that George Washington went to 
New York to see the charming Polly, there is no evi- 
dence that he was especially interested in her. 

Colonel Morris later built for his bride the Morris- 
Jumel Mansion, which is still standing near 160th 
Street. Mrs. Morris frequently visited at the home of 
her girlhood. The last visit was paid there during 
Christmas week of 1776. Her father, who had been 
taken to Middletown, Connecticut, because of his activ- 
ities on the side of the king, was allowed to go to his 
home on parole. 

In 1779 the Manor House and lands were declared 
forfeited because the owner refused to take the oath 
of allegiance to the Colonies, and Frederick Philipse, 
III, went to England. 

The property was sold in 1785. Until 1868 it was 
in the hands of various purchasers. To-day the Manor 
House is preserved as a relic of the days when Washing- 
ton visited the house, when loyalists were driven from 
the doors, and when it was the centre of some of the 
important movements against the British troops. 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 95 

XIX 

ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL, NEW YORK CITY 

WHERE WASHINGTON ATTENDED SERVICE ON HIS FIRST 
INAUGURATION DAY 

In tlie New York Gazette of May 14, 1764, appeared 
this notice concerning St. Paul's Chapel: 

" We are told that the Foundation Stone of the third 
English Church which is about erecting in this City, 
is to be laid this day. The church is to be 112 by 72 
feet." 

For two years those who passed the corner of Broad- 
way and Partition (Fulton) Street watched the progress 
of the building. On October 30, 1766, it was ready 
for the first service. 

On the opening day there was no steeple, no organ, 
and no stove. But those who entered the doors were 
abundantly satisfied with the work of the architect, 
who is said to have been a Scotchman named McBean, 
a pupil of Gibbs, the designer of St. Martins-in-the- 
Fields, London, to which church the interior of St. 
Paul's Chapel bears a marked resemblance. In the 
account of the opening the New York Journal and 
General Advertiser said that the new church was " one 
of the most elegant edifices on the Continent." 

Between April 13, 1776, when Washington arrived 
in New York, and September 15, 1776, when Lord Howe 
occupied the city, the church was closed, since the rector 
did not see his way to omit from the service the prayers 



96 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

for the king. But when the British took possession of 
New York the doors were opened once more. Until the 
city was evacuated, November 25, 1783, Lord Howe and 
many of his officers were regular attendants at St. 
PauFs. 

Six days after the beginning of the British occupa- 
tion the church had a narrow escape from destruction. 
A fire, which Howe declared was of incendiary origin, 
burned four hundred of the four thousand homes in 
New York. St. Paul's Chapel was in the centre of 
the burnt district. Trinity Church was destroyed, and 
St. Paul's was saved by the efforts of its rector. Dr. 
Inglis. This was the first of five such narrow escapes. 
The steeple was actually aflame during the conflagra- 
tion of 1797, but the building was saved. Three times 
during the nineteenth century, in 1820, 1848, and 1865, 
fire approached or passed by the chapel. 

Immediately after the first inauguration of Washing- 
ton, at the City Hall, he walked to St. Paul's to ask 
God's blessing on the country and his administration. 
During his residence in New York, until Trinity Church 
was rebuilt, he was a regular attendant at the services. 
From 1789 to 1791 his diary records the fact many 
times, " Went to St. Paul's Chappel in the forenoon." 
At first he used the pew built for the Governor of New 
York, but later, when a President's pew was built, he 
moved to this. Canopies covered both pews, while they 
were further marked by the arms of the United States 
and of New York. 

Dr. Morgan Dix, in his address at the Centennial 
anniversary of the completion of the building, told of 
an old man who had said to him that when he was a 
boy he used to sit with other school-boys in the north 




FRAUNCES TAVERN, NEW YORK CITY 



Photo b'j Frank Cousins Art Company 
See page 97 




VAX CORTLANDT HOUSE, NKW \ UUK LlTV 



Photo by Ph. B. Wallace 
See page ICM 




URIS-JUMEL HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY. 



Photo by Frank Cousins Art Company 
See page 87 




ILIPSE MANOK HOUSE, YONKERS, N. Y. 



J'lioto hij A. V.Cnril, Yunkers 
See page 01 



PATKOONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 97 

gallery, and from there he would watch the arrival of 
the General and " Lady Washington " as they came up 
Fair Street to the church, in a coach and four. 

In the same address Dr. Dix said : " The church re- 
mains, substantially, such as it was in the first days; 
alterations have been made in it, but they have not 
changed its general appearance. For justness of pro- 
portion and elegance of style, it still holds a leading 
place among our city churches, and must be regarded 
as a fine specimen of its particular school of architec- 
ture. When it was built, the western end commanded 
an uninterrupted view of the river and the Jersey shore, 
for the waters of the Hudson then flowed up to the line 
of Greenwich Street, all beyond is made land." 

In the portico of the old church is a monument to 
General Montgomery, a member of St. Paul's parish, 
who fell at Quebec, and is buried in the chapel. This 
monument, which was sent from France by Benjamin 
Franklin, had an adventurous career. The vessel in 
which it was shipped was captured by the British, and 
some time elapsed before it reached its destined place. 



XX 

FRAUNCES' TAVERN, NEW YORK CITY 

WHERE WASHINGTON TOOK LEAVE OF HIS SOLDIEES 

The subscribers of the Pennsylvania Packet, on the 
morning of December 2, 1783, read the following pleas- 
ing despatch from New York City, which was dated 
November 26, 1783 : 



98 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

" Yesterday in the morning the American troops 
marched from Haerlem, to the Bowery lanes. They 
remained there until about one o'clock, when the British 
troops left the fort in the Bowery, and the American 
troops marched in and took possession of the city. — 
After the troops had taken possession of the city, the 
GENERAL and GOVERNOR made their public entry 
in the following manner: — Their excellencies the gen- 
eral and governor with their suites on horseback. The 
lieutenant governor, and the members of the council 
for the temporary government of the southern district, 
four a-breast. — Major-general Knox, and the officers of 
the army, eight a-breast. — Citizens on horseback, eight 
a-breast. — The speaker of the assembly and citizens, on 
foot, eight a-breast. 

" Their excellencies the governor and commander-in- 
chief were escorted by a body of West Chester light 
horse, under the command of Captain Delavan. The 
procession proceeded down Queen [now Pearl] Street, 
and through the Broad-way to Cape's Tavern. The gov- 
ernor gave a public dinner at Fraunces' tavern; and 
which the commander-in-chief, and other general officers 
were present." 

The building which Washington made famous that 
day was erected by Etienne de Lancey, probably in 
1700. Samuel Fraunces purchased the place in 1762. 
Soon it became one of the most popular taverns in New 
York. Among its patrons were some of the leaders in 
the Revolution, as well as many who were loyal to King 
George. But Fraunces himself never wavered in his 
allegiance to the Colonies. 

One of the clubs that met regularly at Fraunces' was 
the Social Club, of which John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, 
and Robert R. Livingston were members. 

During the occupation of New York by the British 



PATKOONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 99 

the tavern did not have an opportunity to play a part 
in the history of the country, though the daughter of 
the proprietor, who was a tavern keeper at Washington's 
Richmond Hill headquarters, made ineffective a plot to 
poison the Commander-in-Chief. 

Ten days after Washington's triumphal entry into 
the city, and the dinner at the tavern, one of the rooms 
was the scene of a historic event of which Rivington's 
^ew York Gazette told in these words : 

"Last Thursday noon (December 4) the principal 
officers of the army in town assembled at Fraunces' 
tavern to take a final leave of tlieir illustrious, gracious 
and much loved comrade. General Washington. The 
passions of human nature were never more tenderly 
agitated than in this interesting and distressful scene. 
His excellency, having filled a glass of wine, thus ad- 
dressed his brave fellow-soldiers: 

" ' With an heart full of love and gratitude I now 
take leave of you : I most devoutly wish that your latter 
days may be as prosperous and happy as your former 
ones have been glorious and honorable.' 

" These words produced extreme sensibility on both 
sides; they were answered by warm expressions, and 
fervent wishes, from the gentlemen of the army, whose 
truly pathetic feelings it is not in our power to convey 
to the reader. Soon after this scene was closed, his 
excellency the Governor, the honorable the Council 
and Citizens of the first distinction waited on the gen- 
eral and in terms the most affectionate took their leave." 

Two years later Fraunces sold the tavern, but it re- 
tains his name to this day. It is still at the corner of 
Broad and Pearl streets. Many changes have been 
made in the building, under the direction of the Sons 
of the Revolution, and it will continue to attract vis- 
itors as long as it stands. 



100 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

XXI 

THE GRANGE, NEW YORK CITY 
WHERE ALEXANDER HAMILTON SPENT HIS LAST YEARS 

After nineteen years of moving from house to house 
and from city to city, Alexander Hamilton made up his 
mind to have a home of his own. In 1780 he had taken 
Elizabeth Schuyler from a mansion in Albany that was, 
in its day, almost a palace ; and in 1799 he felt that the 
time had come to give her a home of corresponding 
comfort. 

At this time he was commander-in-chief of the army 
of the United States, a service that was made notable, 
among other things, by his suggestion and preparation 
of plans for the West Point Military Academy. 

The chosen site for the house, nine miles from Bowl- 
ing Green, was bounded by the present St. Nicholas 
and Tenth Avenues and 141st and 145th streets. The 
coach from New York to Albany afforded regular trans- 
portation to the spot, though, of course, Hamilton had 
his own equipage. When he planned the house he 
thought his income of |12,000 would be ample to care 
for the property. Accordingly he felt justified in offer- 
ing £800 for sixteen acres, one-half of which was to 
be paid in cash, the balance within a year. 

The architect chosen was John McComb, the designer 
of New York's old City Hall. Hamilton and his father- 
in-law, General Schuyler, had a hand in the develop- 
ment of the plans. In a letter to Hamilton, written 
August 25, 1800, General Schuyler said: 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 101 

" If the house is boarded on the outside, and the clap- 
boards put on, and filled on the inside with brick, I am 
persuaded no water will pass to the brick. If the clap- 
boards are well painted, and filling in with brick will 
be little if any more expensive than lath and plaister, 
the former will prevent the nuisance occasioned by rats 
and mice, to which you will be eternally exposed if lath 
and plaister is made use of instead of brick." 

The mason's specifications, quoted by Allan MacLane 
Hamilton, were as follows: 

" Proposal for finishing General Hamilton's Country 
House — Viz. 

To build two Stacks of Chimneys to contain eight fire- 
places, exclusive of those in Cellar Story. 

To fill in with brick all the outside walls of the 1st 
and 2nd stories, also all the interior walls that Separate 
the two Octagon Rooms — and the two rooms over them 
— from the Hall and other Rooms in both Stories. 

To lath and plaster the side walls of 1st and 2nd 
stories with two coats & set in white. 

To plaster the interior walls which separate the Octa- 
gon Room in both Stories, to be finished white, or as 
General Hamilton may chose. 

To lath and plaster all the other partitions in both 
stories. 

To lath and plaster the Ceiling of the Cellar Story 
throughout. 

To plaster the Sidewalls of Kitchen, Drawing Room, 
Hall & passage, & to point & whitewash the Stone and 
brick walls of the other part of Cellar Story. To Point 
outside walls of Cellar Story and to fill in under the 
Sills. 

To lay both Kitchen hearths with brick, placed edge 
ways. 

To put a Strong Iron back in the Kitchen fire-place, 
five feet long by 2| 9" high. 



102 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

To Put another Iron back in the Drawing Room 3' — 6" 
by 2—9". 

To place two Iron Cranes in the Kitchen fire Place — 
& an Iron door for the oven mouth. 

The Rooms, Hall and Passage of the first Story to 
have neat Stocco Cornices — Those of Octagon Rooms of 
Best Kind (but not inriched). 

To put up the two setts of Italian Marble in the 
Octagon Room, such as General Hamilton may choose — 
and six setts of Stone Chimney pieces for the other 
Rooms. 

The Four fireplaces in the two Octagon rooms & the 
two rooms over them, to have Iron Backs and jambs, and 
four fire places to have backs only. 

To lay the foundations for eight piers for the Piazza. 

Mr. McComb to find at his own expense all the Ma- 
terial requisite for the afore described work and execute 
it in a good & workmenlike manner for one thousand 
Eight Hundred and Seventy five Dollars. 

General Hamilton to have all the Materials carted 
and to have all the Carpenter work done at his expense — 

General Hamilton is to find the workmen their board 

or to allow shillings per day for each days work in 

thereof. " 

One of the workmen on the house was paid |424.50 
for three and one-half years' work. Another laborer 
was given |152.18 for sixteen months and twenty-seven 
days, or ninepence per day. The cost of the house, com- 
plete, was £1,550. 

The country place was a joy, both indoors and out. 
The garden was especially attractive to Hamilton. In 
a letter written from The Grange to a friend in South 
Carolina, he said : 

" A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge of a 
disappointed politician. The melons in your country 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 103 

are very fine. Will you have the goodness to send me 
some seed, both of the water and musk melons? " 

Guests were numerous. Gouverneur Morris and 
General Schuyler were often at The Grange. Chan- 
cellor Kent, after a visit paid in April, 1804, wrote to 
his wife: 

" I went with General Hamilton on Saturday, the 
21st, and stayed till Sunday evening. There was a 
furious and dreadful storm on Saturday night. It 
blew almost a hurricane. His house stands high, and 
was much exposed, and I am certain that in the second 
story, where I slept, it rocked like a cradle. He never 
appeared before so friendly and amiable. I was alone, 
and he treated me with a minute attention that I did 
not suppose he knew how to bestow. His manners were 
also very delicate and chaste. His daughter, who is 
nineteen years old, has a very uncommon simplicity and 
modesty of deportment, and he appeared in his domestic 
state the plain, modest, and affectionate father and 
husband." 

The ideal life at The Grange continued only until 
July 13, 1804. That morning Hamilton set out as if 
for the office in the city as usual, without informing 
Mrs. Hamilton of the impending duel with Aaron Burr. 
At noon the wife was at the side of her husband, who 
died next day. 

After his death there were put in her hands two 
letters. In these he told of his purpose to permit his 
antagonist to shoot him : 

" The scruples of a Christian have determined me to 
expose my own life to any extent rather than subject 
myself to the guilt of taking the life of another. This 
much increases my hazards, and redoubles my pangs for 
you. . . . 



104 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

" If it had been possible for me to have avoided the 
interview, my love for you and my precious children 
would have been alone a decisive motive. But it was 
not possible, without sacrifices which would have ren- 
dered me unworthy of your esteem." 

Mrs. Hamilton remained at The Grange as long as 
possible, directing the men in the care of the estate and 
caring for her children. But she could not afford to 
keep a carriage, and the inaccessibleness of the estate 
and the drain it made on her limited purse soon made 
it necessary for her to rent a house in the city. 

Though friends proposed the raising of a fund that 
would care for Mrs. Hamilton and the children, it does 
not seem that there was any relief until 1816, when 
Congress gave to Mrs. Hamilton back pay amounting 
to ten thousand dollars. 

After The Grange was sold to pay debts, its career 
was checkered. Some years ago it was moved to the 
east side of Convent Avenue, and it then became the 
schoolhouse of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. 



XXII 

THE VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY 

AT THE EDGE OF THE MANHATTAN " NEUTRAL GROUND " 

In 1699 Jacobus Van Cortlandt bought the first fifty 
acres of the ground now included in Van Cortlandt 
Park, New York City, and for one hundred and ninety 
years the property remained in the Van Cortlandt 
family. Until fifty-three years before the first of the 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 105 

Van Cortlandts acquired it, the Indians were the undis- 
puted possessors of the plot. 

Adrisen Van der Donck, the first settler to acquire 
title, lived until his death in the bouiverie or farm- 
house, which he built on the shore of a brook. When 
Jacobus Van Cortlandt built his houicerie by the side 
of the same brook, he dammed the water to make a 
mill-pond, which is to-day the beautiful Van Cortlandt 
lake. There he built a grist mill which remained in use 
until 1889. Early visitors to the lake delighted to study 
the ancient structure to which, during the Revolution, 
both British and patriot soldiers resorted with their 
grain. The mill was struck by lightning and destroyed 
in 1901. 

The third house on the estate was built in 1748 by 
Frederick the son of Jacobus, who acquired by the will 
of his father the " farm, situate, lying, and being in a 
place commonly called and known by the name of Little 
or Lower Yonkers." This house, which was modelled 
after the Philipse Manor House at Yonkers, is still in a 
fine state of preservation. Since 1897, it has been used 
as a public museum, in charge of the Colonial Dames of 
the State of New York. 

The room fitted up as a museum was occupied by 
General Washington on the occasion of his visit to the 
house in 1783. This room is also pointed out as the 
scene of the death of Captain Rowe of the Hessian 
jaegers, who was severely wounded near the house. 
When he realised that he could not recover, he sent in 
haste for the young woman who had promised to marry 
him, and he died in her arms. 

Other famous visitors were Rochambeau, Admiral 
Digby, and William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who be- 



106 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

came King William IV of England. Admiral Digby, 
after his departure, sent to Augustus Van Cortlandt, 
the owner of the house, two wooden vultures, which he 
had captured from a Spanish privateer. These vultures 
are now in the museum. 

The old house was the centre of important military 
operations during the Revolution. Washington forti- 
fied eight strategic spots in the vicinity of Kingsbridge, 
and when he withdrew before the British occupied the 
fortification, a number of Hessian jaegers were quar- 
tered in the Van Cortlandt House. To the north of the 
house was the neutral ground for which the two armies 
continually struggled for possession. In 1781, when 
Washington was about to withdraw his army to York- 
town, he directed that camp-fires be lit on Vault Hill, 
the site of the Van Cortlandt family vault. By this 
stratagem he succeeded for a time in deceiving the 
enemy as to his movements. 

Since the building of the Broadway subway Van Cort- 
landt Park has been so easy of access that the number 
of visitors to the historic spot has rapidly increased. 



XXIII 

THE HASBROUCK HOUSE, NEWBURGH, 
NEW YORK 

WHERE THE CLOSING DRAMA OF THE REVOLUTION 
WAS STAGED 

During the entire period of the Revolution the country 
about Newburgh was an important centre of military 
operations. West Point was fortified in 1776, that the 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 107 

British might not be able to carry out their design of 
separating New England from the middle colonies. 
Many officers had their headquarters within a few miles 
of these fortifications. Lafayette was at the Williams 
House, three miles north of Newburgh, while Generals 
Green, Gates, and Knox were at Vail's Gate, four miles 
south of the town. General George Clinton was at 
Little Britain, and General Anthony Wayne was in 
Newburgh. 

Washington's first stay in the vicinity was at Vail's 
Gate, New Windsor, in the winter of 1779-80. His 
longest sojourn, however, was in the house which Jona- 
tlian Hasbrouck built in 1750 and enlarged in 1770. 
The best description of this substantial one-story stone 
house at the time of Washington's residence there is 
contained in the " Memoirs " of Marquis de Chastellux, 
who was the guest of the Commander-in-chief on 
December 6, 1872: 

" The largest room in it, (which was the proprietor's 
parlor for his family, and which General Washington 
has converted into his dining-room) is in truth tolerably 
spacious, but it has seven doors and only one window. 
The chimney, or rather the chimney back, is against the 
wall ; so that there is in fact but one vent for the smoke, 
and the fire is in the room itself. I found the company 
assembled in a small room, which served by way of 
parlor. At nine supper was served, and when the hour 
of bed-time came, I found that the chamber, to which 
the General conducted me, was the very parlor I speak 
of, wherein he had made them place a camp bed. ..." 

The records of the months when Washington was an 
occupant of the old Dutch house are among the most 
interesting of the war. For instance, on May 10, 1782, 



108 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

there came tidings of the arrival in New York of Sir 
Guy Carleton, the new British commander, who wrote 
that he desired to tell of the king's idea of a possible 
peace, and of the attitude of the House of Commons. 
He closed his letter by saying, " If war must prevail, I 
shall endeavor to render its miseries as light to the 
people of this continent as the circumstances of such a 
condition will possibly permit." 

Two days earlier Washington wrote a letter to 
Meschech Weare in which he seems to have anticipated 
and discredited Carleton's word of appeal : 

" They are meant to amuse this country with a false 
idea of peace, to draw us off from our connection with 
France, and to lull us into a state of security and in- 
activity, which having taken place, the ministry will be 
left to prosecute the war in other parts of the world 
with greater vigor and effect." 

In less than two weeks a tempter of an entirely dif- 
ferent sort approached Washington. Lewis Nicola, 
colonel of the corps of invalids, wrote to tell of the 
fact that the officers and soldiers were discontented be- 
cause they had not received their pay. Then he inti- 
mated that he had no hope of the success of republican 
institutions, but thought this country needed a ruler 
like a king, though he might not be called king, owing 
to the objection to that word. Yet he added, " I be- 
lieve strong arguments might be produced for admitting 
the title of King, which I conceive would be attended 
with some material advantages." 

To this letter Washington sent prompt reply, on 
May 22, 1782 : 

"Sir: With a mixture of great surprise and aston- 
ishment, I have read with attention the sentiments you 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 109 

have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir, no 
occurrence in the course of the war has given me more 
painful sensations, than your information of there being 
such ideas existing in the army, as you have expressed, 
and I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with 
severity. For the present the Communication of this 
will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation 
of the matter shall make a disclosure necessary. 

" I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my 
conduct could have given encouragement to an address, 
which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that 
can befall my country. If I am not deceived in the 
knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person 
to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. At the 
same time, in justice to my own feelings, I must add that 
no man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample jus- 
tice done to the Army than I do, and so far as my 
power and influence, in a constitutional way, extend, 
they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to 
effect it, should there be any occasion. Let me conjure 
you then, if you have any regard for your country, con- 
cern for yourself or respect for me, to banish these 
thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as 
from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like 
nature. 

" With esteem I am, sir, Your most obedient servant, 

" George Washington." 

That Washington desired to be a simple resident on 
his own estate at Mount Vernon instead of king of the 
new country, was emphasized by a letter written on 
June 15 to Archibald Cary : 

" I can truly say, that the first wish of my soul is to 
return speedily into the bosom of that country which 
gave me birth, and, in the sweet enjoyment of domestic 
happiness and the company of a few friends, to end my 
days in quiet, when I shall be called from this stage.'' 



110 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

There was joy in the village on the banks of the 
Hudson when, late in 1782, a letter came from Sir Guy 
Carleton announcing that negotiations for a general 
peace had already begun in Paris, and that the king 
had decided to propose the independence of the thir- 
teen Provinces " in the first instance, instead of grant- 
ing it as a condition of a general treaty," 

In the long interval before the receipt of decisive 
word concerning peace, the sagacity of Washington 
was once more tested severely. There was still dis- 
affection among the officers and the men because they 
had not been paid, and because Congress seemed to pay 
no attention to their protests. Washington learned that 
a call had been issued for a meeting of officers to be 
held in New Windsor to consider taking matters into 
their own hands and forcing Congress to act. 

Washington did not hesitate. He asked the officers 
to meet him in the very building in which they had 
planned to make their plans for revolt. Then he ap- 
pealed to their patriotism, urging them not to put a 
stain on their noble service by hasty action. When he 
had gone, the officers acted in a way that justified the 
General's confidence. Unanimously they promised all 
that had been asked of them, and voted to thank Wash- 
ington for his method of dealing with them. 

On March 19, 1783, four days after this action, Wash- 
ington acknowledged to Congress receipt of w^ord that 
the preliminary articles of peace had been signed on 
November 30, and on April 18 he ordered the cessation 
of hostilities, in accordance with the proclamation of 
Congress. 

The Hasbrouck house was sold by the family to New 
York State in 1849. For twenty-four years, by act of 



PATROONS AND KNICKERBOCKERS 111 

Assembly, the historic quarters were cared for bv the 
trustees of the village, and later by the city authorities. 
In May, 1871, trustees appointed by the legislature took 
over the property and have held it ever since, for the 
benefit of the people. 



THREE: ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH 
THE PATRIOTS 



See the ancient manse 

Meet its fate at last! 
Time, in his advance, 

Age nor honor knows; 
Axe and broadaxe fall. 

Lopping off the Past: 
Hit ivith bar and maul, 

Down the old house goes! 

Sevenscore years it stood; 

Yes, they built it well. 
Though they built of wood. 

When that house arose. 
For its cross-beams square 

Oak and ivalnut fell; 
Little worse for wear, 

Down the old house goes! 

On these oaken floors 

High-shoed ladies trod; 
Through those panelled doors 

Trailed their furbelows ; 
Long their day has ceased; 

Now, beneath the sod. 
With the icorms they feast, — 

Doton the old house goes! 

Many a bride has stood 

In yon spacious room; 
Here her hand teas tvooed 

Underneath the rose; 
O'er that sill the dead 

Reached the family tomb; 
All that were have fled, — 

Down the old house goes! 

Once, in yonder hall, 

Washington, they say. 
Led the Neio Year's ball, 

Stateliest of beaux; 
O that minuet, 

Maids and matrons gay! 
Are there such sights yet? 

Down the old house goes! 

Doorway high the box 

In the grass-plot spreads; 
It has borne its locks 

Through a thousand snows; 
In an evil day, 

From those garden beds 
Now 'tis hacked away, — 

Down the old house goes! 



Edmund Clarence Stedman". 



THREE: ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH THE 
PATRIOTS 

XXIV 

THE FRANKLIN PALACE, PERTH AMBOY, 
NEW JERSEY 

THE HOME OF THE SON OF WHOM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
VAINLY TRIED TO MAKE A PATRIOT 

There was a time when Benjamin Franklin was proud 
of his son William, and was glad to have his name 
coupled with that of the young man. 

The first year of the father's service in the Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly William was appointed clerk of that 
body; this fact is mentioned with pride in the Auto- 
biography. 

When General Braddock was sent from England to 
America to oppose the union of the Colonies for defence, 
" lest they should thereby grow too military and feel 
their own strength," Franklin was sent by the Assembly 
to Fredericktown, Maryland, to confer with the Gen- 
eral. " My son accompanied me on the journey," the 
Autobiography says. 

At Braddock's request Franklin advertised at Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, for one hundred and fifty wagons 
for the proposed expedition into the interior, and at the 
close of the advertisement was the note, " My son, Will- 

115 



116 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

iam Franklin, is empowered to enter into like contracts 
with any person in Cumberland County." 

Later, when the father was asked to secure financial 
assistance for certain subalterns in Braddock's com- 
pany, he wrote to the Assembly, recommending that a 
present of necessaries and refreshments be sent to those 
officers. " My son, who had some experience of camp 
life and of its wants, drew up a list for me which I 
enclos'd in my letter," the father wrote. 

When, during the French and Indian War, the Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania asked Franklin to take charge of 
" our Northwestern frontier which was infested by the 
enemy, and provide for the defence of the inhabitants 
by raising troops and building a line of forts," he went 
to the front with five hundred and sixty men. In the 
Autobiography he wrote, " My son, who had in the pre- 
ceding war, been an officer in the army rais'd against 
Canada, was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me." 

And in 1771, when beginning his Autobiography, 
Franklin addressed it " Dear Son," and spoke of the trip 
the two had taken together to England, to make " en- 
quiries among the remains of my relations." Then he 
added : 

" Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to 
know the circumstances of my life, many of which you 
are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment 
of a week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country 
retirement, I sit down to write them for you." 

Six years before the beginning of the Autobiography, 
Franklin, in company with six other Philadelphians, 
entered on a land speculation in Nova Scotia. Together 
they bought two hundred thousand acres of land. There 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 117 

they intended to found a colony. Two shiploads of emi- 
grants were taken to Monkton, the site of the proposed 
colony, but most of the men settled on other land, 
finding that this could be had practically for nothing. 
Franklin's will later provided that William be given 
an interest in the Nova Scotia property, and he ex- 
plained the gift by saying that this was " the only part 
of his estate remaining under the sovereignty of the king 
of Great Britain.'' 

What was the explanation of the father's changed 
attitude to his son that led him to make his bequest in 
such unpleasant terms? 

After William Franklin's return from the frontier, he 
was appointed governor-in-chief of the Province of New 
Jersey. A mansion was built for him in Perth Amboy 
by the Lord Proprietor. Its construction required a 
somewhat extended time, for it was a grand place; no 
wonder it was called " The Palace." But in 1774 the 
Governor took possession. 

Of course this was not the reason for the breach with 
his father. Again Benjamin Franklin was proud of his 
son, and of the lavish entertainments he made for his 
associates. 

But the father began to shake his head when his son 
became a favorite of the Tories in Perth Amboy w^ho 
had looked askance on his appointment, the year be- 
fore. He was told that William would himself remain 
a loyalist when the break came with Great Britain, and 
he was compelled to believe that there was serious 
ground for the charge. He decided, however, to make a 
supreme effort to rouse the Governor to the call of 
patriotism. Accordingly, in 1775, he sought the 
Palace and pleaded with William to forsake his Tory 



118 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

associates, turn his back on the king who had turned 
his back on the Colonies, and become a steadfast 
defender of his country's rights. 

What a subject that interview would make for an 
artist I Opposed to the luxury-loving governor, in the 
house furnished for his satisfaction by the Tories with 
whom he had chosen to ally himself, was the sturdy 
figure of the sage of Pennsylvania, who was ready to 
lay down his life in the defence of his country. 

It must have been a stirring interview. But it was 
fruitless. Benjamin Franklin went back to Philadel- 
phia a disappointed man. His feelings were expressed 
in the letter in which he said, " I am deserted by my 
only son." 

Within a year Governor Franklin was practically a 
prisoner in the Palace, in consequence of the discovery 
that he was plotting against the Colonies. When he 
persisted in courses that troubled Congress, he was ar- 
rested and taken to Burlington. Mrs. Franklin fled to 
New York, and the Palace was at the mercy of the 
British. On several occasions the house was used as 
headquarters by British generals, and soldiers made 
their encampment on the grounds. 

Though the interior of the Palace was destroyed by 
fire soon after the war, the house was restored, and it 
still looks much as it did when Franklin, the patriot, 
stood within its walls. For years it was used as a 
hotel, and later as a private residence. In 1883 it was 
made a Home for aged ministers of the Presbyterian 
Church. To-day it is again used as a hotel. 



ACEOSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 119 



XXV 

THE CHURCH AT CALDWELL, NEW JERSEY 

WITH GLIMPSES OF THE FIGHTING CHAPLAIN CALDWELL 

The trying days of the Revolution would not seem to 
be a favorable time for the beginning of a church, 
especially in the section of New Jersey which was so 
often overrun by the soldiers of both armies. Yet it 
was at this critical time that many of the people of 
Horseneck (now Caldwell), New Jersey, near Mont- 
clair, were looking forward to the organization of a 
church and the building of a house of worship. Timbers 
were in fact drawn and framed for church purposes, 
but the war interfered with the completion of the pro- 
ject. 

The donation, in 1779, of ninety acres of wild land in 
the centre of the settlement gave the prospective con- 
gregation new heart. On this land a parsonage was 
begun in 1782. The upper portion of this house, un- 
plastered and unceiled, was used for church purposes 
until 1796. 

The final organization of the church dates from 
December 3, 1784, when forty persons signed their 
names to the following curious agreement : 

" We Whose Names are Under writen Living at the 
Place called Horse Neck, Being this Day to be Formed 
or Embodied as a Church of Jesus Christ, Do Solemnly 
Declare that as we do desire to be founded Only on the 
Rock Christ Jesus, So we would not wish to Build on 
this foundation, Wood Hay and Stubble, but Gold and 
Silver and Precious Stones; and as it is our profested 



120 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Sentiments that a Visible Cliiircli of Christ, Consists of 
Visible Believers with their Children, so no Adult Per- 
sons ought to be Admitted as members but such as 
Credibly profess True Faith in Jesus Christ, Love, 
Obedience, and Subjection to Him, Holding the Funda- 
mental Doctrines of the Gospel, and who will Solemnly 
Enter into Covenant to Walk Worthy such an Holy 
Profession as we do this Day." 

The last survivor of those who signed this document 
was General William Gould, who died February 12, 
1847, in his ninetieth year. During the Revolution he 
saw much active service, especially at the battles of 
Springfield and Monmouth and the campaigns that pre- 
ceded and followed these conflicts. 

But the connection of the church with the Revolution 
came rather through Rev. James Caldwell, who was 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth 
Tow^n. During the early years of the struggling con- 
gregation he was their adviser and helper, and after his 
death the name of the church was changed to Caldwell, 
in his honor. 

Mr. Caldwell — who had among his parishioners in 
Elizabeth Town William Livingston, the Governor of 
the State, Elias Boudinot, Commissary General of 
Prisons and President of Congress, Abraham Clark, one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, as 
well as more than forty commissioned ofiicers of the 
Continental Army — was one of the famous chaplains of 
the war, having been chosen in 1776 chaplain of the 
regiment largely made up of his own members. Later 
he was Assistant Commissary General. 

The British called him the " Fighting Chaplain," and 
he was cordially hated because of his zeal for the cause 
of the patriots. His life was always in danger, and 




NASSAU HALL AM) THK KIHSI' I'K l-.>M)K\ T ^ HolSK, 
PRINCETON. N. J. 



I'in.in I, 'I i; II i: 



Sec page L3() 




MORVEN, PRINCETON, N. .1 



Pl,id(, hi/ h'. II. Ix'o-v luid Son. Princi'loH 
Seo page 134 




THE F'RANKLIN PALACE, PERTH AMBOY. N. J. 



Photo furni^ihed hy W. A. Little, D. D., Perth Amboy 

See page 115 




OLD TENNENT CHURCH, FREEHOLD, N, J. 



Photo 1,1/ 7/<///'.v Shnl.o, Pr,thul,l 
See page 122 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 121 

when he was able to spend a Sunday with his congre- 
gation he would preach with his cavalry pistols on the 
pulpit, while sentinels were stationed at the doors to 
give warning. 

The enmity of the British led to the burning of the 
chaplain's church, and the murder, a few months later, 
of Mrs. Caldwell. While she was sitting in a rear 
room at the house at Connecticutt Farms, where she 
had been sent for safety, surrounded by her children, 
a soldier thrust his musket through the window and 
fired at her. 

Mr. Caldwell survived the war, in spite of the efforts 
of the British to capture him, only to be murdered on 
November 24, 1781, by a Continental soldier who w^as 
thought to have been bribed by those whose enmity the 
chaplain had earned during the conflict. 

The Elizabeth Town congregation succeeded in re- 
building their church five years after it was destroyed, 
but the delayed Caldwell church building was not ready 
for its occupants until 1795. The timbers for the church 
were hewed in the forest where the trees were felled and 
were drawn by oxen to the site selected. Forty men 
worked several days to raise the frame. Lime was made 
from sea shells, which were hauled from Bergen, and 
then burned in a kiln erected near the church lot. 

The interior of the building was plain. The pulpit, 
" about the size of a hogshead," was built on a single 
pillar, against the wall; above this was a sounding 
board. The windows had neither blinds nor curtains, 
and nothing was painted but the pulpit. The backs of 
the pews were exactly perpendicular. Provision was 
made regularly for the purchase of sand to freshen the 
floors. This building was burned in 1872. 



V22 IlISTOUK^ SIIKINES OF AMIOIUCA 

Tlic lirsl, pastor, Kcv. Stephen (I rover, received as 
Halai\y one hundred and lilty dollars a year, thouj>h this 
sum was to be increased ten (hjlhii-s a year until the total 
was two hundred and lifly dollars. Of course the use 
of the [Kirsonagc and land was j»iven in addition. 

iMr. Orover was pastor tor forty-six years, tind his 
successor was Ilev. Itichard l<\ ('h^veland, to who.se son, 
born in the old nuinse at ('aldwell, — which was pur- 
chased in l!)tli by the (Srover (Meveland l>ii'lhplace 
Memorial Association, — was ^ivi'n the name Stephen 
drover, in memory of the lirst j)astor of the church. 
l*\)rty seven years later Stephen (irover Cleveland be- 
came President of the United States. 

For the lirsl leu luonlhs of its history the (^aldwell 
church was Fresbyterian, then it became ('Onj;re;;a- 
tional, but siuce 1831 it has been a Presbyterian body. 



XXVI 

OLD TENNENT CITUROII, FREEHOLD, 
NKW JERSEY 

ON THE nA'riM.K FlKLl) OF MONMOUTH 

One of the bas-reliefs on the monument commemo- 
ratinj;' the decisive iiattle of Alonmoulh, which has hvvn 
called the turning-point of the War for Independence, 
represents the famous INhdly Fitcher as she took the 
place at the j'un of her disabled husband. In the back- 
ground of the relief is the roof and steeph^ of Old Ten- 
nent, the church near which the battle raged all day 
long. 



f 



ACROSS THE JlOkSIOVS WITH I'ATKIOTS 12.3 

'rcmicril, I'r('Hl).yt<*ri;m (yliurcli wan orj^anizcd about 
]()1)15. 'JMk; lij-Hl l)iiil<liij/j; \v:ik f)roI)al>Iy biiill. of Ioj^k. 
Tlu! H(;con(J Htnicliirc, more Jiinbil.ioiis, vvuh planiKMj in 
JT.'iO. 'l'\v('nl.y ycuj-H hilcr a IliirrJ Hf.rucljin; was drv 
juan(J('(J by tlu; ^i-(>\viiij«; con^rc^^aliijii, '^I'Ijj'h l)iiil«Jinj<, 
wliicli \v;iH Uvcniy-sc.vcii .yctarn old at tin* 1,1 ijk; of Uut 
hal.Uc of AloninoiiUj, in Htill Hlaridiuj^, 

The pljiii en I led for a building Hixty feel, long and 
forfy i'ccl w idc. 'Vltc. prcsonf pa.sfor of flic <liun-li, J{(*v. 
i'l'ijnk K. Syninics, in bin Hl.ory of Mk; <!liiir(:li, .say.s of 
llic building: 

" 'i'lKi Ki«i('H wen; .slKtaflnMJ wifli long (Mtdar shinglo.s, 
;irid fastcncMl vviLli nailH patiently wr<>uglit out on an 
anvil, iind the inferior \v;ih bnislied vvifli beiided and 
j)anelle<| Jersey |)ine. . . . The pulpit . . . iw placed 
on tlui north Hide of the room, against the wall, with 
narrow Htairn leading up to it, closed in with a door, 
TIk! liibh; desk is nin(! feet above the audience 
floor, with a great sounding board overhanging tin; 
whole. . . . I'elow tint main (iulpit a second desk 
or siib-pulj)it is bwill, wherti the prec(*ntor used to 
stand. . . . 'J'he gall(;ri(ts (!xt<^nd along three sid<.*H of 
the njoni." 

Among tin* early pastors of tlut church were R(*v. John 
Tennent and his brother, lic.v. VVilliiim ^'ennent, mem- 
bers of a family famrius in the early history of the Pres- 
byt<frian (Miurcli in N('W Jersey. In cons<;quence of 
their forty-sev(ni years of serviee the church became 
known as " Old Tennent." 

The story of tin? marriage of Rev. William Tennent 
is u tniditlon in the congregation. In spite of his salary 
of about one hundred pounds, an(J the us(; of thr? parson- 
age farm, be became financially embarrassed. A friend 



124: HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

from New York who visited him when he was thirty- 
three years old told him he ought to marry and sug- 
gested a widow of his acquaintance. Mr. Tennent 
agreed to the proposition that he go to New York in 
company with his friend, and see if matters could not 
be arranged. So, before noon next day, he was intro- 
duced to Mrs. Noble. " He was much pleased with her 
appearance," the story goes on, " and when left alone 
with her, abruptly told her that he supposed her brother 
had informed her of his errand; that neither his time 
nor his inclination would suffer him to use much cere- 
mony, but that if she approved ... he would return on 
Monday, be married, and immediately take her home." 
Thus in one week she found herself mistress of his 
house. She proved a most invaluable treasure to him. 
The year after the death of Mr. Tennent, on Sunday, 
June 28, 1778, General Washington, at the head of about 
six thousand men, hurried by Old Tennent. That 
morning he had been at Englishtown where the sound 
of cannon told him his advance forces under General 
Lee were battling with the British. Washington was 
about one hundred yards beyond the church door when 
he met the first straggler who told him that Lee had 
retreated before the British. A little further on the 
Commander-in-chief met Lee. After rebuking him 
sharply he hastened forward, and rallied the retreating 
Continentals. The renewed battle continued until 
evening when the British were driven back to a de- 
fensive position. During the night they retired, to the 
surprise of Washington, who hoped to renew the battle 
in the morning. The victory snatched from defeat in 
this, one of the most stubbornly contested and longest 
battles of the war, gave new courage to the Colonies. 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 125 

During tlie battle wounded soldiers were carried to 
the cliurcb, where members of the congregation tended 
them, in what could not have been a very secure refuge, 
since musket balls pierced the walls. An exhausted 
American soldier, while trying to make his way to the 
building, sat for rest on the grave of Sarah Mattison. 
While he was there a cannon ball wounded him and 
broke off a piece of the headstone. Watchers carried 
him into the church where he was laid on one of the 
pews. The stains of blood are still to be seen on the 
board seat, while the marks of his hands were visible on 
the book-rest of the pew until the wood was grained. 

A tablet has been placed on the front wall of the 
church with this message : 

1778-1901 

In Grateful Remembrance 

of Patriots Who, on Sabbath June 28, 1778, 

Gained the Victory Which Was the Turning Point 

Of the War for Independence, 

And to Mark a Memorable Spot on 

The Battlefield of Monmouth, 

This Tablet is placed by Monmouth Chapter 

Daughters of the American Revolution 

September 26, 1901. 

Not far from the church is the monument commemo- 
rating the battle itself. Spirited bronze reliefs on this 
tell the story of some of the picturesque incidents of 
the memorable struggle. 



126 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XXVII 

THE FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN, 
NEW JERSEY 

FROM WHICH ALEXANDER HAMILTON WENT COURTING 

New Jersey, which was the scene of so many battles 
during the Revolution, was also the scene of what was 
perhaps Washington's pleasantest winter during the 
war. From December, 1799, to June, 1780, the Com- 
mander-in-chief lived at the Ford Mansion with his 
" family," as he was fond of calling Mrs. Washington 
and his aides. 

During these months he was busily engaged in making 
plans for the later successful conduct of the war, yet 
he took time for those social relaxations which were a 
needed relief from the anxious strain of the long con- 
flict. 

Among those who helped to make that winter memo- 
rable were Surgeon General John Cochrane and Mrs. 
Cochrane, who occupied the Campfield House close by, 
and General and Mrs. Philip Schuyler, who had come 
down from Albany for a season at headquarters. Mrs. 
Schuyler and Mrs. Cochrane were sisters. Elizabeth 
Schuyler had come in advance of her parents, and for 
a time was a guest at the Campfield House. 

Visitors from France were arriving from time to time, 
bringing word of the alliance that was to mean so much 
to the Colonies, and conferring as to methods of co- 
operation. 

In one wing of the Ford Mansion lived Mrs. Ford 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 127 

and her sou Timothy. In the rooms set apart for 
the use of Washington's family eighteen people were 
crowded. Two of these were Alexander Hamilton and 
Tench Tilghman, both members of the General's staff. 

Though Mrs. Washington delighted to put on style, 
on occasion, she could also be plain and simple. There 
had been times during the war when she was not 
ashamed to drive to headquarters in a coach and four. 
But sometimes at Morristown she was in a different 
mood — as, for instance, one day when a number of the 
ladies of the neighborhood, dressed in their best, called 
to pay their respects to her. To their surprise they 
found her sitting in a speckled apron, knitting stockings. 
If they were ill at ease at first, their state of mind can 
be imagined when their hostess began to talk to them 
of the need of care in their expenditures for their coun- 
try's sake. After telling them of a dress she had made 
out of the carefully unravelled upholstery of a set of 
chairs, she completed their consternation by saying : 

"American ladies should be patterns of industry to 
their countrywomen, because the separation from the 
mother-country will dry up the source whence many of 
our comforts have been derived. We must become inde- 
pendent by our determination to do without what 
we cannot make ourselves. While our husbands and 
brothers are examples of patriotism, we must be 
examples of thrift and economy." 

The coming of Elizabeth Schuyler to the Campfield 
House was the signal for a spirited contest for her 
favor between two of Washington's aides. Both Ham- 
ilton and Tilghman had met her at her father's house 
in Albany, and both called on her. But Hamilton 



128 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

soon distanced his comrade in the race for her favor. 
It was not long until everybody was watching develop- 
ments. Both of the young people were favorites. It 
is related that even a young soldier on sentry duty late 
one night was persuaded to a breach of military rules 
by his interest in Hamilton's courtship. That night the 
lover was on his way home after spending an evening 
with his Betsey. Evidently the young man had been 
thinking of anything but the countersign, for when he 
was halted and asked to give the countersign words 
he cudgelled his brain in vain. Then he whispered to 
the sentry, " Tell me ! " And the sentry did tell. 
Whereupon Hamilton drew himself up before the sol- 
dier, gravely gave the countersign, and passed on to 
his quarters. 

There was no time for long courtship in those days 
of quick movements in military circles. So, before long, 
Hamilton was writing to Elizabeth Schuyler such cheer- 
insr letters as the following : 



'fc> 



" I would not have you imagine, Miss, that I write 
you so often to gratify your wishes or please your 
vanity, but merely to indulge myself, and to comply 
with that restless property of my mind which will not 
be happy unless I am doing something, in which you 
are concerned. This may seem a very idle disposition 
in a philosopher and a soldier; but I can plead illus- 
trious examples in my justification. Achilles liked to 
have sacrificed Greece and his glory for a female cap- 
tive; and Anthony lost the world for a woman. I am 
very sorry times are so changed as to oblige me to go 
to antiquity for my apology, but I confess to the dis- 
grace of the present that I have not been able to find 
as many who are as far gone as myself in their laudable 
zeal of the fair sex. I suspect, however, that if others 
knew the charms of my sweetheart as well as I do, I 



ACEOSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 129 

should have a great number of competitors. I wish I 
could give you an idea of her. You have no conception 
of how sweet a girl she is. It is only in my heart that 
her image is truly drawn. She has a comely form, and 
a mind still more lovely; she is all goodness, the gentlest, 
the dearest, the tenderest of her sex. Oh, Betsey, how 
I love her! " 

Who could withstand such a lover? Elizabeth 
Schuyler did not, and her father commended her judg- 
ment. For he wrote to Hamilton : 

" You cannot, my dear sir, be more happy at the con- 
nexion you have made with my family than I am. 
Until the child of a parent has made a judicious choice, 
his heart is in critical anxiety; but this anxiety was 
removed the moment I discovered on whom she had 
placed her affection. I am pleased with every instance 
of delicacy in those who are dear to me; and I think I 
read your soul on that occasion you mention. I shall 
therefore only entreat you to consider me as one who 
wishes in every way to promote your happiness, and I 
shall." 

The young people were married at the Schuyler home- 
stead in Albany on December 14, 1780. 

To-day the Ford Mansion where Hamilton dreamed 
of a conquest in which the British had no part is owned 
by the Washington Association of New Jersey, and is 
open to visitors. The Campfield House is to be found 
on a side street; it has been moved from its original 
site. 



130 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XXVIII 

NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 

WHERE THE CONGRESS OF 1783 MET FOR FIVE MONTHS 

Where the College of New Jersey, as Princeton Uni- 
versity was officially known until 1896, erected its first 
building at Princeton, the far-sighted trustees arranged 
what was long ago the largest stone structure in the 
Colonies. The records of early travellers on the road 
between Philadelphia and New York tell of their amaze- 
ment at the wonderful building. 

In 1756 the college abandoned its rooms in the First 
Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey, and oc- 
cupied the ambitious quarters in Princeton, which had 
cost about £2,900. 

Originally the halls extended from end to end of 
Nassau Hall, a distance of one hundred and seventy- 
five feet. These long, brick-paved halls afforded stu- 
dents inclined to mischief wonderful opportunity to 
make life miserable for the tutors who were charged 
with their oversight. " Rolling heated cannon balls, to 
tempt zealous but unwary tutors, was a perennial joy," 
writes Varnum Lansing Collins, in his book, " Prince- 
ton." Then he adds the statement that at a later epoch 
there were wild scenes, " when a jackass or a calf was 
dragged rebelliously up the narrow iron staircase, to be 
pitted in frenzied races with the model locomotive pur- 
loined from the college museum." 

There was no provision for lighting the long halls, so 
the rollicking students were accustomed to fix candles to 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 131 

the walls with handfuls of mud. When a tutor was 
heard approaching, the candles would be blown out and 
he would be foiled in his attempt to identify the of- 
fenders. Sometimes barricades of cordwood were built 
hastily on the stairs or across the entrance to one of the 
halls. 

In vain the authorities tried to correct these abuses 
by the passage of strict regulations. " No jumping or 
hollowing or any boisterous Noise shall be suffered, nor 
walking in the gallery in the time of Study," was a 
regulation which could be made known far more easily 
than it could be enforced. Lest there be breaches of 
decorum inside the rooms, tutors were directed to make 
at least three trips a day to the quarters of the students, 
to see that they were " diligent at the proper Business." 
They were to announce their coming to a room " by a 
stamp, which signal no scholar shall imitate on penalty 
of five shillings." Should the occupant of the room re- 
fuse to open the door, the tutor had authority to break 
in. At a later date, students in Nassau Hall liked to 
have double doors to their rooms, so that the obnoxious 
tutor might be hindered in his efforts to force an en- 
trance, long enough to give them opportunity to hide 
all evidence of wrongdoing. 

In 1760 a code of " orders and customs " was issued 
by the authority of President Aaron Burr. One of the 
most astounding directions in this code was that " Every 
Freshman sent on an errand shall go and do it faith- 
fully and make quick return." Other rules, as indicated 
in Mr. Collins' book, concerned deportment, and de- 
manded constant deference to superiors. " Students 
are to keep their hats off ' about ten rods to the Presi- 
dent and about five to the tutors; ' they must * rise up 



132 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

and make obeisance ' when the President enters or 
leaves the prayer hall, and when he mounts into the 
pulpit on Sundays. When walking with a superior, an 
inferior ' shall give him the highest place.' When first 
coming into the presence of a superior, or speaking to 
him, inferiors ' shall respect by pulling their Hats ;' if 
overtaking or meeting a superior on the stairs, he ' shall 
stop, giving him the banister side ; ' when entering a 
superior's, ' or even an equal's ' room, they must knock ; 
if called or spoken to by a superior, they must ' give a 
direct, pertinent answer concluding with sir ; ' they are 
to treat strangers and townspeople ' with all proper 
complaisance and good manners ; ' and they are for- 
bidden to address any one by a nickname." 

Evidently rules like these helped to make good 
patriots, for Princeton students were among the most 
sturdy adherents of the Colonists' cause. In September, 
1770, the entire graduating class wore American cloth, 
as a protest against Great Britain's unjust taxation 
measures. 

In January, 1774, the students broke into the college 
storeroom and carried the winter's supply of tea to a 
bonfire in front of Nassau Hall. While the tea burned 
the college bell tolled and the students — in the words 
written home to a parent by one of them — made " many 
spirited resolves." 

The spirited students were jubilant on the evening of 
July 9, 1776, when the news of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was read in Princeton. Nassau Hall was 
illuminated and the whole town rejoiced that. President 
Witherspoon, as a member of the Continental Congress, 
had been a signer of the document. 

In November, 1776, the students who had not enlisted 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 133 

in the army were sent from the town just in time to 
escape the British, who took possession of the building 
and used it as barracks and hospital. Early in the 
morning of January 3, 1777, the British held the build- 
ing. After the battle Washington's troops took pos- 
session, but abandoned it almost at once. At evening 
the British were once more in control. Soon they hur- 
ried on to New Brunswick. The next occupants were 
the soldiers of General Putnam, who found room here 
for a hospital, a barracks, and a military prison. They 
found that during the battle of Princeton a round shot 
had struck the portrait of George II in the prayer hall. 

After the British left Princeton College classes were 
continued in the President's house, and it was 1782 be- 
fore a serious attempt was made to reoccupy Nassau 
Hall, which was found to be " mostly bare partition 
walls and heaps of fallen plaster." 

A year later, when temporary repairs had been made, 
the Continental Congress, which had been besieged by 
a company of troops who were insistent in their de- 
mands for overdue pay, made its way to Princeton. 
From June to November the sessions were held in 
Nassau Hall. Commencement day came during the 
sessions and Congress sat, with Washington, on the 
platform. On that occasion Washington gave fifty 
pounds to the college. This sum was paid to Charles 
Wilson Peale for a portrait of the donor, which was 
placed in the frame from which the portrait pf George 
II had been shot more than seven years before. 

Congress was still in session at Nassau Hall when, in 
October, the first authentic news came of the signing of 
the Definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. 

A few weeks later the college was left to its sedate 



134 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

ways. Never since then has it witnessed such stirring 
events. But the experiences of the years from 1776 to 
1784 had made Nassau Hall one of the nation's pic- 
turesque monuments. 



XXIX 

THREE HISTORIC HOUSES AT PRINCETON, 
NEW JERSEY 

MORVEN, THE MERCER HOUSE, AND WASHINGTON'S 
ROCKY HILL HEADQUARTERS 

" Sollemnity & Distress appeared almost on every 
countenance, several students that had come 5 & 600 
miles & just got letters in college were now obliged 
under every disadvantage to retire with their effects, 
or leave them behind, which several through the impos- 
sibility of getting a carriage at so Confused a time were 
glad to do, & lose them all, as all hopes of continuing 
longer in peace at Nassau were now taken away I began 
to look out for some place where I might pursue my 
studies & as Mr. G. Johnson had spoke to me to teach 
his son I accordingly went there & agreed to stay with 
him till spring." 

So wrote John Clark, one of the students at the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, who, in 1776, was dismayed by the 
threatened approach of Cornwallis and his army. He 
was able to remove his effects in ample time, for he had 
only a " Trunk & Desk." But there were others in the 
peaceful village who were not so fortunate. One of 
them was Mrs. Richard Stockton of Morven, a beautiful 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 135 

home still standing not far from the college campus. 
The activity of her husband in the interests of the 
Colonies had angered the British, and they were not 
slow to take advantage of the absence of the family by 
pillaging the mansion and destroying many things it 
contained. Fortunately Mrs. Stockton, before leaving 
hurriedly for Freehold, had buried the family silver, 
and this was not discovered, though Cornwallis and his 
officers occupied the house as headquarters. 

Probably, while they were here, they talked gleefully 
of what they called the collapse of the war. They felt 
so sure that the war was over that Cornwallis was 
already planning to return to England. 

Then came the surprise at Trenton, when nearly a 
thousand Hessians of a total force of twelve hundred 
were captured. 

Immediately Cornwallis, who had returned to New 
York, hastened back to Princeton, where he left three 
regiments and a company of cavalry. Then he hurried 
on to Trenton. On the way he was harassed by Wash- 
ington's outposts, and the main force of the General 
delayed his entrance into the town until nightfall. He 
expected to renew the attack next morning, but during 
the night Washington stole away toward Princeton. 
Within two miles of Princeton the force of General 
Mercer encountered the reserve troops of Cornwallis, 
which were on their way to their commander's assist- 
ance. Washington, hearing the sound of the conflict 
that followed, hastened to the field in time to rally the 
forces of Mercer, who had been wounded. The day was 
saved, but General Mercer was lost ; he died in the farm- 
house on the battle field to which he was carried. To 
this day visitors are shown the stain made on the floor 



136 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

by the blood of the dying man. Those who express 
doubt as to the stain are not welcomed. 

Alfred Noyes has written of this conflict which meant 
more to the struggling Colonies than some historians 
have indicated. The reference in the first line of the 
second stanza is to the tigers that crouch at the entrance 
of Nassau Hall in Princeton : 

"Here Freedom stood hy slaughtered friend and foe, 
And, ere the wratJi paled or that sunset died, 
Looked through the ages; then, with eyes aglow. 
Laid them to wait that future, side by side. 



" The dark bronze tigers crouch on either side 

Where redcoats used to pass ; 
And round the bird-loved house where Mercer died, 

And violets dusk the grass, 
By Stony Brook that ran so red of old. 

But sings of friendship now. 
To feed the old enemy's harvest fifty-fold 

The green earth takes the plow. 

" Through this May night, if one great ghost should stray 

With deep remembering eyes. 
Where that old meadow of battle smiles away 

Its blood-stained memories, 
If Washington should walk, where friend and foe 

Sleep and forget the past, 
Be sure his unquenched heart would leap to know 

Their souls are linked at last." 

After the battle came happier days for Princeton. 
Morven was restored, and Washington was frequently 
an honored guest within the walls, as have been many 
of his successors in the White House. 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 137 

More than six years after the memorable battle of 
Princeton, another house in the neighborhood received 
him. When Congress convened in Nassau Hall, it 
rented for Washington the Rocky Hill House, five miles 
from the village, which was occupied by John Berrian, 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. 
This house, which was suitably furnished for the Gen- 
eral, was the last headquarters of the Revolution. 

While at the Berrian house, Washington sat to Will- 
iam Dunlap for his portrait. In his " Arts of Design " 
the artist, who at the time of which he wrote was eight- 
een years old, said : 

" My visits are now frequent to headquarters. The 
only military in the neighborhood were the general's 
suite and a corporal's guard whose tents were on the 
green before the Berrian House, and the captain's 
marquee nearly in front. The soldiers were New Eng- 
land yeomen's sons, none older than twenty. ... I was 
quite at home in every respect at headquarters ; to break- 
fast and dine day after day with the general and Mrs. 
Washington and members of Congress." 

It was Washington's custom to ride to Princeton, 
mounted on a small roan horse. The saddle was " old 
and crooked, with a short deep blue saddle cloth flow- 
ered, with buff cloth at the edge, buckskin seat, the cloth 
most below the skirt of the saddle at the side, double 
skirts, crupper, surcingle, and breast straps, double 
belted steel bridle and plated stirrup." 

The real closing scene in the Revolution was Wash- 
ington's farewell address to the army, which he wrote 
in the southwest room of the second story. On Sunday, 
November 2, from the second-story balcony, he read this 



138 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

to the soldiers. Two days later orders of discharge were 
issued to most of them. 

Fortunately the Berrian House has become the prop- 
erty of " The Washington Headquarters Association of 
Rocky Hill," and is open to the patriotic pilgrim. 



XXX 

THE SPRINGFIELD MEETING HOUSE, 
NEW JERSEY 

WHOSE PSALM BOOKS FURNISHED WADDING FOR THE 

CONTINENTAL GUNS 

" One pint of spring water when demanded on the 
premises " was the strange payment stipulated by the 
donor of one hundred acres of land given in 1751 to 
the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church in Spring- 
field, New Jersey, to be for the use of the minister of 
the parish. The church records do not state that the 
rent has been paid regularly, but they do state that the 
woodland enabled them for many years to furnish the 
free firewood that was a part of the support promised 
to every one of the early pastors. 

The first building occupied by the church was com- 
pleted in 1746. Fifteen years later the second building 
was first occupied, and it continued to be the centre 
of the community's religious life until November, 1778, 
when it was needed for military stores. The church 
was gladly given up to the army, and services were 
held in the garret of the parsonage. 

The British under General Knyphausen, determined 



ACROSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 139 

to drive Washington and his men from the New Jersey 
hills and to destroy his supplies, marched from Eliza- 
beth Town on June 23, 1780. There were five thousand 
men, with fifteen or twenty pieces of artillery, in the 
expedition. A few miles away, near Springfield, was a 
small company of patriots, poorly equipped but ready 
to die in the defence of their country. 

Warning of the approach of the enemy was given 
to the Continentals by the firing of the eighteen-pounder 
signal gun on Prospect Hill; twelve Continentals sta- 
tioned at the Cross Roads, after firing on the enemy, had 
hurried to the hill. After firing the gun they lighted 
the tar barrel on the signal pole. 

Instantly the members of the militia dropped their 
scythes, seized their muskets, and hurried to quarters. 
" There were no feathers in their caps, no gilt buttons 
on their home-spun coats, nor flashing bayonets on their 
old fowling pieces," the pastor of Springfield church 
said in 1880, on the one hundredth anniversary of the 
skirmish that followed, " but there was in their hearts 
the resolute purpose to defend their homes and their 
liberty at the price of their lives." 

The sturdy farmers joined forces with the regular 
soldiers. For a time the battle was fierce. The enemy 
were soon compelled to retreat, but not before they hn-i 
burned the village, including the church. Chaplain 
James Caldwell was in the hottest of the fight. " See- 
ing the fire of one of the companies slacking for want 
of wadding, he galloped to the Presbyterian meeting 
house nearby, and rushing in, ran from pew to pew, 
filling his arras with hymn books," wrote Headley, in 
" Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution." " Hasten- 
ing back with them into the battle, he scattered them 



140 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

about in every direction, saying as he pitched one here 
and another there, ' Now put Watts into them, boys.' 
With a laugh and a cheer they pulled out the leaves, and 
ramming home the charge did give the British Watts 
with a will." 

The story has been attractively told by Bret Harte: 

**. . . Stay one moment; you've heard 
Of Caldwell, the parson, who once preached the Word 
Down at Springfield? What, no? Come — that's bad; 

why, he had 
All the Jerseys aflame ! And they gave him the name 
Of the 'rebel high priest.' He stuck in their gorge, 
For he loved the Lord God — and he hated King George ! 

"He had cause, you might say! When the Hessians that 
day 
Marched up with Knyphausen, they stopped on their way 
At the 'farm,' where his wife, with a child in her arms, 
Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew 
But God — and that one of the hireling crew 
Who fired the shot ! Enough ! — there she lay, 
And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away! 

*'Did he preach — did he pray? Think of him as you stand 
By the old church to-day — think of him and his band 
Of military ploughboys ! See the smoke and the heat 
Of that reckless advance, of that straggling retreat ! 
Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in your view — 
And what could you, what should you, what would you do ? 

"Why, just what he did ! They were left in the lurch 
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church, 
Broke down the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out 

in the road 
With his arms full of hymn-books, and threw down his 

load 



ACKOSS THE JERSEYS WITH PATRIOTS 141 

At their feet! Then above all the shouting and shots 
Eang his voice, 'Put Watts into 'em! Boys, give 'em 
Watts.' 

"And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, flowers blow 
Pretty much as they did ninety-three years ago. 
You may dig anywhere and you '11 turn up a baU — 
But not always a hero like this — and that's all." 

The battle of Springfield is not named among the 
important battles of the Revolution, but it had a special 
meaning to the people of all that region, for it taught 
them that the enemy, who had been harassing them for 
months, was not invulnerable. From that day they took 
fresh courage, and their courage increased when they 
realized that the British would not come again to 
trouble them. 

After the burning of the Springfield church, the 
pastor. Rev. Jacob Vanarsdal, gathered his people in 
the barn of the parsonage. Later the building was 
ceiled and galleries were built. 

For ten years the barn w^as the home of the congre- 
gation, but in 1791 the building was erected which is 
in use to-day. 



FOUR: RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY OF 
BROTHERLY LOVE 



In that delightful land which is icashed hy the Delaioare's waters. 

Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the apostle. 

Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city he founded. 

There all the air is balm, and thetpeach is the emblem of beauty, 

And the streets still re-echo the names of the trees of the forest, 

As if they fain tomild appease the Dryads tohose haunts they molested. 

There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an exile, 

Finding among the children of Penn a home and a country. 

There old Rene Leblanc had died; and xvhen he departed. 

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants. 

Something at least there ivas in the friendly streets of the city, 

Something that spake to her heart, and made her no longer a stranger; 

And her^ear was pleased %oith the Thee and Thou of the Quakers, 

For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country, 

Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and sisters. 

Henby Wadswobth Longfellow. 



FOUR: RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY OF 
BROTHERLY LOVE 

XXXI 

THE LBTITIA PENN HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA 

WILLIAM PENN'S FIRST AMERICAN HOME 

When William Penn, English Quaker, met Gull 
Springett, he fell in love with her at once. In 1672 
they were married. 

Ten years later when, as Proprietor of Pennsylvania, 
Penn was about to sail in the Welcome for America, he 
wrote a letter of which the following is a portion : 

" My dear wife and children, my love, which neither 
sea, nor land, nor death itself, can extinguish or lessen 
toward you, most tenderly visits you with eternal em- 
braces and will abide with you for ever. . . . My dear 
wife, remember thou wast the love of my youth and 
the joy of my life, the most beloved as well as the most 
worthy of all my earthly comfort, and the reason of 
that love were more thy inward than thy outward excel- 
lencies, which were yet many. God knows, and thou 
knowest it, that it was a match of Providence's making, 
and God's image in us both was the first thing and the 
most amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes. Now 
I am to leave thee, and that without knowing whether 
I shall ever see thee more in this world." 

Penn landed at New Castle, Delaware, in October, 
1682. He had already sent forward the plot of his new 

145 



146 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

country village ; his cousin, Lieutenant Governor Mark- 
ham, had come to America in 1681, bringing with him 
instructions for the beginning of the settlement. On 
this plot there was evidence of his thought for his wife 
and his daughter Letitia; two lots were set apart for 
the family, on one of which he planned to build, while 
the other he designed for Letitia. 

When he reached America, he found that, by some 
mistake, Letitia's lot had been given to the Friends for 
a meeting house. He was vexed, but nothing could be 
done. So he decided that the lot reserved for his own 
use should be made over to her. He did not carry out 
his purpose for some time, however. 

For a time Penn remained at Upland (now Chester), 
but in 1684, he went to Philadelphia to oversee the erec- 
tion of the houses for the settlers. His own house he 
built on a large plot facing the Delaware River and 
south of what is now Market Street. The house was 
of brick, which was probably made nearby, though 
many of the interior fittings had been brought from 
England in the John and Sarah in 1681. It was the 
first brick house in the new settlement, the first house 
which had a cellar, and was built in accordance with 
the request the Proprietor had made : 

" Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in 
the middle of the plat, as to breadth way of it, that so 
there may be ground on each side for garden or orchard, 
or fields, that it may be a green country town, which 
will never be burnt and always wholesome." 

For a few months the Quaker kept bachelor's hall in 
his new house. Then he went to England, intending to 
return before long. Before his departure he arranged 




Pholn by Ph. R. Wallac 



I.ETITIA PEW HOrSE, PHILADEEIMIIA 



See page 145 J"^ 




ST. PETER 
Gt-I aj 



S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 



See page 153 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE U7 

that the house should be used in the public service. 
Probably it was the gathering place for the Provincial 
Council for many years. Thus it was the first state 
house of Pennsylvania. 

During the fourteen years' stay in England many mis- 
fortunes came to Penn. He was accused of treason, and 
his title to the American lands was taken away from 
him. Later he was acquitted, and his lands were 
returned. 

In 1692 Guli Penn died, and in 1696 Penn married 
Hannah Callowhill. In 1699, when he returned to 
America, he brought with him his wife and Letitia, 
who was then about twenty-five years old. 

Evidently the old house was not good enough for the 
ladies of the family. At any rate they occupied for a 
time the " slate-roof house," one of the most preten- 
tious buildings in the Colony. When the manor, Penns- 
bury, twenty miles up the Delaware, was completed, the 
family was taken there. Great style was maintained at 
the country estate in the woods. The house had cost 
£5,000, and was " the most imposing house between the 
Hudson and Potomac rivers." 

The Philadelphia house was transferred to Letitia 
on " the 29th of the 1st month 1701." At once extrava- 
gant Letitia tried to dispose of it. She succeeded in 
selling a portion of the generous lot, but it was some 
years before she was able to sell the whole. 

In the meantime the Proprietor felt that he must 
return to England because of the threat of Parliament 
to change the government of the American Colonies. 
Mrs. Penn and Letitia, who did not like America, 
pleaded to go with him. He thought he would be re- 
turning soon, and he urged them to remain. They in- 



148 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

sisted. In a letter to James Logan he wrote : " I can- 
not prevail on my wife to stay, and still less with Tish. 
I know not what to do." Later he wrote : " The going 
of my wife and Tish will add greatly to the expense. . . . 
But they will not be denied." 

In 1702 Letitia married William Aubrey, who had all 
of Penn's keenness and none of his genial qualities. 
Almost from the day of the marriage both husband and 
wife pestered Penn for money. Aubrey insisted on a 
prompt payment of his wife's marriage portion. His 
father-in-law was already beginning to feel the grip of 
financial embarrassment that later brought him to the 
verge of bankruptcy, but, on this occasion as well as 
later, he felt compelled to yield to the insistent demands 
of the grasping Aubrey. 

The only members of the Penn family who ever re- 
turned to America were the children of the second wife, 
to whom most of the property descended. 

The Letitia Penn House, as it came to be known, fell 
on evil days. It was an eating house in 1800, and in 
1824 it was the Rising Sun Inn. Later it was called 
the Woolpack Hotel. 

In 1882 funds were raised by public subscription, and 
the venerable house was taken down and rebuilt in 
Fairmount Park. Visitors who enter the city by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City may easily 
see it from a right-hand car window, for it is the only 
house in the corner of the park on the west side of the 
river. 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 149 

XXXII 

CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA 
CALLED BY BENSON J. LOSSING " THE TEMPLE OF FREEDOM » 

Philadelphia was but forty-two years old when a 
number of builders in the growing town decided to 
have a guild like the journeymen's guilds of London. 
Accordingly they formed, in 1724, " The Carpenters' 
Company of the City and County of Philadelphia,'^ 
whose object should be " to obtain instruction in the 
science of architecture; to assist such of the members, 
or the widows and children of members, as should be 
by accident in need of support," as well as " the adop- 
tion of such a system of measurements and prices that 
every one concerned in a building may have the value 
of his money, and every workman the worth of his 
labor." 

At first the meetings were held here and there, prob- 
ably in taverns. In 1768 the Company decided to build 
a home. A lot was secured on Chestnut Street, between 
Third and Fourth streets, for which an annual ground 
rent of " 176 Spanish milled pieces of eight " was to be 
paid. The sum of three hundred pounds necessary to 
begin operations was subscribed in about a week. 

The Company's annual meeting of January 21, 1771, 
was held within the walls, though the building was not 
entirely completed until 1792. 

Three years after the opening of the hall came the 
first event that linked the building with the history of 
America. A general meeting of the people of Philadel- 



150 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

phia was held here to protest against the failure of 
Governor Penn to convene the Assembly of the Colony. 
A committee of three was appointed to wait on the 
Speaker and ask him for ^' a positive answer as to 
whether he would call the Assembly together or not." 

The Assembly was then called to meet on the " 18th 
day of the 6th month." Three days before the time 
fixed, another meeting was held in Carpenters' Hall to 
consider what measures for the welfare of the Colony 
should be proposed to the Assembly. At this meeting 
the necessity of holding " a general Congress of dele- 
gates from all the Colonies " was voiced. Later the 
Assembly approved of the idea of such a conference, and 
a call was issued. 

On September 5, 1774, the delegates from eleven 
provinces met in the City Tavern. Learning that the 
Carpenters' Company had offered the hall for the use 
of the Continental Congress, the delegates voted to in- 
spect the accommodations. John Adams, one of their 
number, said after the visit : " They took a view of the 
room and of the chamber, where there is an excellent 
library. There is also a long entry, where gentlemen 
may walk, and also a convenient chamber opposite to 
the library. The general cry was that this was a good 
room." 

When this First Continental Congress met, it was 
decided that the session of the second day should be 
opened with prayer. Rev. Jacob Duch6 of Christ 
Church and St. Peter's was asked to be present and 
conduct an opening service. This historic account of 
the service was written by John Adams : 

" Next morning he appeared with his clerk and hav- 
ing on his pontificals, and read several prayers in the 



THE CITY OF BROTHEKLY LOVE 151 

established form, and then read the Psalter for the 
seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth 
Psalm. You must remember that this was the next 
morning after we had heard of the horrible cannonade 
of Boston (the account proved to be an error). It 
seemed as if heaven had ordered that Psalm to be read 
on that morning. After this, Mr. Duche, unexpectedly 
to everybody, struck out into extemporary prayer, which 
filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess, 
I never heard a better prayer, or one so well pro- 
nounced." 

In part, this prayer was as follows : 

" Be thou present, O God of wisdom ! And direct the 
councils of this honorable assembly, enable them to 
settle things on the best and surest foundation, that the 
scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, har- 
mony, and peace may be effectually restored, and truth 
and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish 
amongst Thy people." 

On October 26 the Congress was dissolved. The sec- 
ond Congress was called to meet on May 10, 1775, at 
the State House, later known as Independence Hall. 

When the British took possession of the city in 1777, 
a portion of the army was quartered in the building. 
Officers and men alike borrowed books from the Library 
Company of Philadelphia, wliich had quarters here, in- 
variably making deposits and paying for the use of 
volumes taken in strict accordance with the rules. 

In 1778 the United States Commissary of Military 
Stores began to occupy the lower story and cellar of the 
building. From 1791 to 1821 various public organiza- 
tions sought quarters here, including the Bank of the 
United States, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the United 
States Land Office, and the United States Custom House. 



152 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The Carpenters' Company therefore, in 1791, erected a 
second building on this lot, which they occupied until 
1857. 

When Benson J. Lossing visited the historic hall, on 
November 27, 1848, he wrote of his great disappointment 
because the banner of an auctioneer was on the front of 
the building. He said : 

" I tried hard to perceive the apparition . . . to be 
a classic frieze, with rich historic trigliphs, but it would 
not do. . . . What a desecration ! Covering the fagade 
of the very Temple of Freedom with the placards of 
grovelling Mammon ! If sensibility is shocked with this 
outward pollution, it is overwhelmed with indignant 
shame on entering the hall where that august Assembly 
of men — the godfathers of our Republic — convened to 
stand as sponsors at the baptism of infant American 
liberty — to find it filled with every species of merchan- 
dise, and the walls which once echoed the eloquent words 
of Henry, Lee, and the Adamses, reverberating with the 
clatter of the auctioneer's voice and hammer. Is there 
not patriotism strong enough in Philadelphia to enter 
the temple, and ^ cast out all them that buy and sell, 
and overthrow the tables of the money-changers? ' *' 

At length the Carpenters' Company decided that the 
time had come to do what the historian pleaded for. In 
1857 they returned to the building, and since then they 
have held their meetings within the walls consecrated 
by the heroes of Revolutionary days. The rooms were 
restored to their original condition, and relics and me- 
mentoes of early days were put in place. The Hall has 
ever since been open to visitors " who may wish to visit 
the spot where Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired the 
delegates of the Colonies with nerve and the sinew for 
the toils of war." 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 153 

XXXIII 

ST. PETER'S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 

WHOSE BUILDING IS PRACTICALLY UNCHANGED AFTER 
MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 

There were but fifteen thousand people in Philadel- 
phia when, on March 19, 1753, the suggestion was made 
to the vestry of Christ Church that a new church or 
Chapel of Ease of Christ Church be built for the accom- 
modation of the people in the southern part of the city. 
Thomas and Richard Penn gave a site for the building 
of the new church, and on September 21, 1758, the 
corner stone was laid. In 1761 the church was opened, 
though it was not completed until March, 1763. To the 
new organization was given the name St. Peter's, and it 
was ordered by the vestry of Christ Church, " that the 
said church ... in every respect whatever shall be upon 
an equal footing with Christ Church, and be under the 
same government with it." 

At the same time, in view of the gift of the site, it was 
ordered that " the first and best pew in the said Church 
shall be set apart forever for the accommodation of the 
Honorable Proprietary's family." 

When the building was completed the building com- 
mittee reported that the cost was £4,765, 19 s. 6^ d. 
Added to this report were statements that sound quite 
modern. " The sudden rise in the prices of materials 
and labor," and " the inability of some subscribers to 
meet their engagements," had added to the burdens of 
the committee. 



154 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

From the beginning prayers were read in the church 
for the king and all the royal family, but on July 4, 
1776, the vestry ordered that patriotic prayers be sub- 
stituted. While the British were in Philadelphia the 
prayers for the king were renewed by order of Dr. 
Duch^, rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's. The 
official history of St. Peter's refers to Dr. Duch^, who 
ordered this, in the following sentences : 

" From an advocate of the Colonies, he became an ad- 
vocate of the King, and on the Sunday following the 
occupation of Philadelphia by the British, he restored 
the prayers for the King to the Liturgy. This com- 
promise with conditions availed him nothing, and he 
was arrested for serving as chaplain to Congress after 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The 
influence of his loyalist friends secured his speedy 
release. . . . Not long afterward he went to England, 
where he remained practically an exile for twelve years, 
returning to Philadelphia several years before his death, 
when, it is said, no truer American could have been 
found in the City. He . . . was buried in St. Peter's 
Churchyard." 

During the occupation of the church by British 
troops in 1777 the pews were burned for fuel, but the 
building was never closed for lack of fuel or for any 
other reason, until the late winter of 1917-18, when 
coal could not be secured. 

The wooden fence that surrounded the property origi- 
nally was burned by the British for fuel, and the brick 
wall that is now in place was built in 1784. 

Washington frequently occupied a pew in St. Peter's, 
and many other men who were prominent in the early 
history of the country worshipped here. The building 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 155 

is practically as it was when they lived. " It is the same 
church to which the colonists in their knee-breeches and 
rich coats came to attend the first service in 1761," a 
member of the vestry said in 1891. " The pulpit, read- 
ing desk, and chancel rails were built in 1764, and the 
present organ loft was put up over the chancel in 1789. 
In all other respects the plain, austere interior of this 
old church . . . remains unchanged, the only relic in 
Pennsylvania, and one of the very few in the country at 
large, of the church in colonial days. Bishop De Lan- 
cey, in his centennial sermon, preached September 4, 
1861, said : ' We enter by the same doors — we tread the 
same aisles — we kneel where they knelt — we sit where 
they sat ; the voice of prayer, instruction, and praise as- 
cends from the same desk from which it reached their 
ears, in the privacy and seclusion of the same high, 
strait unostentatious pews.' " 

In the crowded churchyard are the graves of many 
colonial worthies as well as many leaders in the early 
history of America. Stephen Decatur is buried here, 
and Charles Wilson Peale, who painted a famous por- 
trait of Washington. 

The Pennsylvania Evening Post of January 18, 1777, 
told of the burial of one of the patriots whose bodies 
were laid here: 



" Yesterday the remains of Captain William Shippen, 
who was killed at Princeton the third instant, gloriously 
fighting for the liberty of his country, were interred in 
St. Peter's Churchyard. His funeral was attended by 
the Council of Safety, the members of Assembly, oflftcers 
of the army, a troop of Virginia light horse, and a great 
number of inhabitants. This brave and unfortunate 
man was in his twenty-seventh year, and has left a 



156 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

widow and three children to lament the death of an 
affectionate husband and a tender parent, his servants 
a kind master, and his neighbors a sincere and obliging 
friend." 

Captain Shippen, before joining Washington's army, 
was captain of the privateer Hancock, which, between 
July 1 and November 1, 1776, sent to American ports 
ten prizes captured at sea. 



XXXIV 

CLIVEDEN, GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA 

ON THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN 

In the days before the Revolution there were many 
residents of Philadelphia who had, in addition to a 
sumptuous town house, a country house, to which they 
could resort in the summer or at other times when they 
wished relief from the cares of daily life. Germantown, 
the straggling village five miles from the town of Will- 
iam Penn, was one of the popular places for such estab- 
lishments. 

Samuel Chew's town house was at Front and Dock 
streets when he built Cliveden at Germantown in 1761. 
At that time he was Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, 
though in 1774 he became Chief-Justice of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania. 

Both in Philadelphia and in Germantown he main- 
tained the hospitable traditions he had learned at Maid- 
stone, near Annapolis, where he was born, in 1722, of a 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 157 

family whose first American ancestor, John Chew, came 
to Virginia a century earlier. 

During the days of the Continental Congress Judge 
Chew seemed to sympathize with the colonists in their 
protests against the aggression of Great Britain, but 
when independence was proposed, he let it be known that 
he was unwilling to act with the patriots. Accordingly 
he was arrested by order of Congress, together with John 
Penn. and when he refused to sign a parole, he was 
banished from the State. 

During his absence the battle of Germantown was 
fought. On October 3, 1777, the British forces were 
disposed on nearly all sides of the Chew mansion. 
Washington planned to attack these scattered forces by 
four columns, which were to advance from as many di- 
rections. General Wayne's column successfully opened 
the attack at daybreak October 4, driving before him the 
enemy encountered at Mount Airy. Colonel Musgrave 
checked the retreat of the soldiers at Cliveden. With 
six companies he took possession of the mansion, pre- 
pared to defend themselves behind hastily barricaded 
doors and windows. Wayne and the leaders who were 
with him pushed on past the house, continuing the pur- 
suit of that portion of the enemy which had continued 
its retreat; he did not know that he was leaving an 
enemy in his rear. When Washington came to Cliveden, 
he was surprised by the fire of the entrenched enemy. 
After a hasty conference with others, it was decided not 
to pass on, leaving a fortress behind. Cannon were 
planted so as to command the door, but they were fired 
without much effect. 

The next attempt was made by a young Frenchman 
who asked others to carry hay from the barn and set 



158 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

fire to the front door. Thinking they were doing as he 
asked, he forced open a window and climbed on the 
sill. From this position he was driven back, and he 
found that he had not been supported by those on whom 
he had counted. 

In the meantime the artillery fire continued, but with 
little effect. General Wilkinson, who was present, 
afterward wrote: 

" The doors and shutters of the lower windows of 
the mansion were shut and fastened, the fire of the 
enemy being delivered from the iron gratings of the 
cellars and the windows above, and it was closely beset 
on all sides with small-arms and artillery, as is mani- 
fest from the multiplicity of traces still visible from 
musket-ball and grape-shot on the interior walls and 
ceilings which appear to have entered through the doors 
and windows in every direction; marks of cannon-ball 
are also visible, in several places on the exterior of the 
wall and through the roof, though one ball only appears 
to have penetrated below the roof, and that by a window 
in the passage of the second story. The artillery seem 
to have made no impression on the walls of the house, 
a few slight indentures only being observable, except 
from one stroke in the rear, which started the wall." 

In a few minutes Washington, realizing that precious 
time was being lost in the attack on the thick walls of 
the house, ordered a regiment to remain behind to watch 
Cliveden, while his main force hastened on. 

It has been claimed that this brief delay was respon- 
sible for the defeat at Germantown. Wilkinson, on the 
contrary, insists that this delay saved Washington's 
army from annihilation, since he would otherwise have 
hurried on in the thick fog until he was in contact with 
the main body of the British army. The result, he 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 159 

thinks, would have been a far greater disaster than 
actually overtook the American arms that day. 

The damage done to the house was so great that five 
carpenters were busy for months making repairs. Evi- 
dently Judge Chew was not satisfied with the result, 
for in 1779 he sold Cliveden for |9,000, only to buy it 
back again in 1787 for |25,000. 

The property descended to Benjamin Chew, Jr., 
on the death of his father. During his occupancy of 
Cliveden Lafayette was a guest there in 1825. 



XXXV 

OLD PINE STREET CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 

WHOSE PASTOR INSPIRED JOHN ADAMS TO PLEAD FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 

There were four thousand, seven hundred and sev- 
enty-four houses in Philadelphia in 1767 when the Pine 
Street Presbyterian Church, the third church of this 
denomination in the city, was built. The subscription 
paper, still in existence, shows that £1,078 " in money 
or otherwise '' was subscribed for the purpose. The 
sum needed to complete the building was raised by a 
lottery, which yielded £2,500. In the proceeds of the 
lottery the Market Street Church and the Second 
Church shared, £1,035 going to the Pine Street building. 

The original building was of but one story, with 
gable ends. When alterations were made in 1837 the 
top of the church was raised bodily, while a larger roof 
was built over the old roof. The visitor who climbs to 



160 HISTORIC SHRINES OE iMERICA 

the loft is able to see the old walls and windows. The 
floor was raised one step above the street level, and 
was paved with brick. 

Rev. George Duffield, D.D., who was pastor from 1772 
to 1790, was a prominent figure during the Revolution. 
He was chaplain of the Continental Congress and of the 
Pennsylvania militia during the period of the war, and 
he delivered fiery messages that stirred patriots to ac- 
tion. John Adams, who was a member of the church, 
called him a man of genius and eloquence. On May 17, 
1776, after listening to a sermon in which Dr. Duf&eld 
likened the conduct of George III to the Americans to 
that of Pharaoh to the Israelites, and concluded that 
God intended the liberation of the Americans, as He 
had intended that of the Israelites, he wrote to his wife : 

" Is it not a saying of Moses, Who am I that I should 
go in and out before this great people? When I con- 
sider the great events which are passed, and those 
greater which are rapidly advancing, and that I may 
have been instrumental in touching some springs, and 
turning some small wheels, which have had and will 
have such effects, I feel an awe upon my mind, which 
is not easily described. Great Britain has at last driven 
America to the last step, complete separation from 
her; a total, absolute independence. ..." 

. Headley, in " Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolu- 
tion," says: 

" The patriots of the first Congress flocked to his 
church, and John Adams and his compeers were often 
his hearers. ... In a discourse delivered before sev- 
eral companies of the Pennsylvania militia and mem- 
bers of Congress, four months before the Declaration 
of Independence, he took bold and decided ground in 




CIJVEDEN, PHILADELPHIA 



Photo by Ph.B. Wallace 
See page 156 




THIRD (old pine STREET) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
PHILADELPHIA 



Photo by Ph.B. Wallace 
See page 159 




DAVID RITTENHOUSE S HOTTSE, NORRITON, PENNA. 



fhulo hi, Ph.B. Wallace 
Sco page 170 




DAW I'iSI' lh:i,l), \1 \li I nil \DELPHI\, PEN\ 



Photo h,j U ( Iloalon I, I>h,la,l,lplna 
See page 178 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 161 

favor of that step, and pleaded his cause with sublime 
eloquence, which afterwards made him so obnoxious to 
the British that they placed a reward of fifty pounds 
for his capture." 

Later on in the same sermon he prophesied : 

" Whilst sun and moon endure, America shall remain 
a city of refuge for the whole earth, until she herself 
shall play the tyrant, forget her destiny, disgrace her 
freedom, and provoke her God." 

As chaplain of the Pennsylvania militia. Dr. Duffield 
was frequently in camp, where " his visits were always 
welcome, for the soldiers loved the eloquent, earnest, 
fearless patriot." 

Headley gives this incident of the courageous chap- 
lain's work: 

" When the enemy occupied Staten Island, and the 
American forces were across the river on the Jersey 
shore, he repaired to camp to spend the Sabbath. As- 
sembling a portion of the troops in an orchard, he 
climbed into the forks of a tree and commenced re- 
ligious exercises. He gave out a hymn. . . . The Brit- 
ish on the island heard the sound of the singing, and 
immediately directed some cannon to play on the 
orchard, from whence it proceeded. Soon the heavy 
shot came crashing through the branches, and went 
singing overhead, arresting for a moment the voices that 
were lifted in worship. Mr. Duflfield . . . proposed 
that they should adjourn behind an adjacent hillock. 
They did so, and continued their worship, while the 
iron storm hurled harmlessly overhead." 

In spite of his almost constant service in the field. 
Dr. Duffield was in Philadelphia among his people 
every little while. The church records show that he 



162 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

baptized children every month during the Revolution, 
except for the period of the British occupation of Phila- 
delphia, when the church was occupied as a hospital, 
and more than one hundred Hessian soldiers were 
buried in the churchyard. 

Another remarkable fact is that of the one hundred 
and ten men who had signed the call to George Duffield 
in 1771, sixty-seven served in the army during the war. 
Colonel Thomas Robinson, whose portrait is in Inde- 
pendence Hall, was a member of the church ; Captain 
John Steele, who was field officer on the day of the 
surrender of Cornwallis, and Colonel William Linnard, 
whose company attempted to keep the British from 
crossing the Brandywine, were also members. Many 
other officers and private soldiers were on the rolls ; the 
stones and vaults in the cemetery tell of many of them. 

One of the original trustees of Pine Street was Dr. 
William Shippen, Jr., first Professor of Medicine in 
America and Director General of all the hospitals dur- 
ing the war. Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declara- 
tion, was an attendant at the services, and his mother 
was a member. 



XXXVI 

INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA 

WHERE AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE WAS BORN 

William Penn was a man of vision. When, in 1G82, 
Thomas Holme surveyed for him the site of Phila- 
delphia, the Quaker pioneer gave instruction that " the 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 163 

Centre Square," one mile from the Delaware, be set 
apart for the public buildings of the city and colony. 

But for many years after the founding of the city, 
Centre Square was far out in the country. During 
these years temporary public buildings were provided 
for official meetings, including the Assembly, but in 
1728 steps w^re taken to erect a suitable public build- 
ing within reach of the people of the young city. 
Ground was bought on Chestnut Street, between Fifth 
and Sixth streets, and the State House was begun in 
1730. The total cost of the building was |16,250. Two 
wings were added in 1739 and 1740; these cost some 
112,000 more. 

Two years after the completion of the main building 
the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act in which this 
statement was made: 

" It is the true intent and meaning of these Presents, 
that no part of the said ground lying to the southward 
of the State House, as it is now built, be converted into 
or made use of for erecting any sort of Building there- 
upon, but that the said ground shall be enclosed and 
remain a public open Green and Walks forever." 

Eighty years after the passage of the act an attempt 
was made to divert the State House yard to other pur- 
poses. In a curious old document, dated February 6. 
1816, W. Rawle and Peter S. Duponceau made an argu- 
ment against this diversion, showing conclusively that 
the State House Square had been " irrevocably devoted 
to the purpose of an open and public walk." Thanks 
to their efforts and the efforts of others who have la- 
bored to the same end, the grounds are to-day, and 
must forever remain, open to the use of the people. 



164 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The first public function held in the new State House 
was a banquet, given in the " long room," in the second 
story. Of this Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette of Sep- 
tember 30, 1736, said : 

" Thursday last William Allen, Esq., Mayor of this 
city for the past year, made a feast for his citizens at 
the State House, to which all the strangers in town of 
note were also invited. Those who are judges of such 
things say that considering the delicacy of the viands, 
the variety and excellency of the wines, the great num- 
ber of guests, and yet the easiness and order with which 
the whole was conducted, it was the most grand, the 
most elegant entertainment that has been made in these 
parts of America." 

The builders were dilatory. It was 1736 before the 
Assembly was able to hold its first session in the cham- 
ber provided for it, and not until 1745 was the room 
completed. Three years more passed before the apart- 
ment intended for the Governor's Council was ready 
for its occupants. 

In 1741 the tower was built, and on November 4 
Edmund Wooley sent to the Province of Pennsylvania 
an interesting bill, " for expenses in raising the Tower 
of the State House " : 

95 loaves of Bread £0 

61f lb. Bacon, at 7d 1 

148^ lb. Beef at 3|d 2 

Potatoes and Greens 

800 Limes at 4s 1 

1| Barrels of Beer at 18s 1 

44 lb. Mutton at 3|d 

37f lb. Veal at 3*d 

30 lb. Venison at 2d 



19 


9 


14 


1 


8 


1 


7 


1 


12 





7 





12 


8 


11 





5 






THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 165 

Turnips 1 6 

Pepper and Mustard 1 5 

2 Jugs and Candles, Pipes and Tobacco ... 6 

Butter 9s. 8d. Turkey 4s. 4 pair Fowls 9s. . 1 2 8 

I of a hundred of Flour 3 6 

Two former Hookings at getting on two 
Floors, and now for raising the Tower, 

Fire Wood, etc 3 

Provision was made in 1750 for the extension of the 
tower for the accommodation of a bell, and on October 
16, 1751, the Superintendent of the State House sent 
a letter to the colonial agent in London. In this letter 
he said: 

" We take the liberty to apply ourselves to thee to 
get us a good bell, of about two thousand pounds weight, 
the cost of which we presume may amount to about one 
hundred pounds sterling, or, perhaps, with the charges, 
something more. . . . Let the bell be cast by the best 
workmen, and examined carefully before it is shipped, 
with the following words well-shaped in large letters 
round it, viz: — 

" ' By order of the Assembly of the Province of Penn- 
sylvania, for the State House in the city of Philadel- 
phia, 1752,' 

" And underneath, 

" ' Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land to all 
the inhabitants thereof— Levit. XXV. 10.' " 

When the new bell was hung it was cracked by a 
stroke of the clapper. Isaac Norris wrote: 

" We concluded to send it back by Captain Budden, 
but he could not take it on board, upon which two in- 
genious workmen undertook to cast it here, and I am 
just now informed they have this day opened the Mould 
and have got a good bell, which, I confess, pleases me 



16G HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

very miicli, that we should first venture upon and suc- 
ceed in the greatest bell cast, for aught I know, in 
English America. The mould was finished in a very 
masterly manner, and the letters, I am told, are better 
than [on] the old one. When we broke up the metal, 
our judges here generally agreed it was too high and 
brittle, and cast several little bells out of it to try the 
sound and strength, and fixed upon a mixture of an 
ounce and a half of copper to one pound of the old bell, 
and in this proportion we now have it." 



But when the bell was in place it was found to con- 
tain too much copper, and Pass & Stow, the founders, 
" were so teazed with the witticisms of the tow^n," that 
they begged to be allowed to recast it. In June, 1753, 
this third bell was hung, and in the following Septem- 
ber the founders were paid £60 13s. 5d. 

In 1752 arrangements were made for a clock. The 
works were placed in the middle of the main building, 
immediately under the roof. These were connected by 
rods, enclosed in pipes, with the hands on the dial 
plates at either gable. Early views of the State House 
show these dials. The cost of the clock, which included 
care for six years, was £494 5s. 5|d. 

During the twenty years that followed the installa- 
tion of the clock and the bell the State House became 
a civic centre of note; but not until the stirring events 
that led up to the Revolution did it become of special 
interest to other colonies than Pennsylvania. On April 
25, 1775, the day after news came to Philadelphia of 
the battles of Lexington and Concord, the great bell 
sounded a call to arms that was the real beginning of 
making the building a national shrine. In response 
to the call eight thousand people gathered in the Yard 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 167 

to consider measures of defence. On April 26 the 
newspapers reported that " the company unanimously 
agreed to associate for the purpose of defending with 
arms their lives, liberty, and property, against all at- 
tempts to deprive them of them." ■ This determination 
of the people was soon sanctioned by the Assembly, and 
Pennsylvania prepared to raise its quota towards the 
Army of the Revolution. 

On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress 
met in the Assembly Chamber, and took action that 
made inevitable the adoption of the Declaration of In- 
dependence the next year. On Friday, June 7, 1776, 
in the Eastern Room on the first floor of the State 
House, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the 
following : 

" Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of 
right ought to be, free and independent States, that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
Crown and that all political connection between them 
and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, 
totally dissolved." 

At the same time the Pennsylvania Assembly was 
considering, in the chamber upstairs, what instruction 
to give to its delegates. When the Assembly adjourned 
the Continental Congress removed to the upper room. 
There, on July 2, the Virginian's motion was carried. 
Later the Declaration itself was adopted, and on July 
4, it was 

" Resolved, that Copies of the Declaration be sent 
to the several assemblies, conventions, and committees 
or councils of safety, and to the several commanding 
officers of the Continental troops; that it be proclaimed 



168 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

in each of the United States and at the head of the 
army." 

It was ordered that the Declaration be proclaimed 
from the State House on Monday, July 8, 1776. On 
that day the State House bell sounded its glad call; 
for the first time did it indeed " proclaim liberty 
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants there- 
of." And in the hearing of those who gathered in re- 
sponse to its call the Declaration was read. 

From that day the State House has been known as 
Independence Hall, while the State House Yard has 
become Independence Square. 

The sittings of Congress in Independence Hall were 
interrupted by the approach of the British. For five 
months the building was used as a British prison and 
hospital. But on July 2, 1778, Congress returned; the 
building once more belonged to the nation. 

The building became more than ever a national shrine 
when, in 1787, the Constitutional Convention met there. 
On September 17, 1787, the votes of eleven States were 
recorded in favor of the Constitution, and Benjamin 
Franklin, looking toward a sun which was blazoned 
on the President's chair, said of it to those near him, 
" In the vicissitudes of hope and fear I was not able 
to tell whether it was rising or setting; now I know 
that it is the rising sun." 

In 1790, the Congress of the United States met in 
the western portion of the buildings on the Square, 
erected in 1785 for the Pennsylvania Assembly.' This 

^ A building to the east of Independence Hall was completed in 1791. 
In this building, which was the Philadelphia City Hall until 1854, the 
Supreme Court of the United States held its first session, February 7, 
1791. 

In 1813 the arcades connecting the main building with the wings 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 169 

building was, by that body, offered to Congress and 
accepted for the term of ten years, until the Capital 
should be removed to the shore of the Potomac. 

During these ten years, and for thirty-five years more, 
the Liberty Bell continued to sound notes of joy and 
of sorrow. On July 8, 1835, it was tolling for Chief 
Justice Marshall. When the funeral procession was 
on Chestnut Street, not far from Independence Hall, 
the bell cracked. Since that day it has been mute. 

The passing years have brought many changes to 
Independence Hall, as well as to the Liberty Bell. The 
bell cannot be renewed, but the historic building and 
the Square have been restored until they present essen- 
tially the appearance of the days of 1776. The chief 
difference is in the steeple. The present steeple was 
built in 1828. It is much like the old steeple, but a 
story higher. 

As the visitor passes from room to room of the ven- 
erable building, and examines the relics and studies 
the portraits of the great men who gathered there so 
long ago, his heart is stirred to thankfulness to those 
who dared to call a nation into being, and he cannot 
but think that it is good to live for one's country. 

were removed, and new buildings were erected which connected Inde- 
pendence Hall with the corner buildings. 

In 1816 the city of Philadelphia became the owner of the whole 
property. 



170 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XXXVII 

THE DAVID RITTENHOUSE HOME, NEAR 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE HEADQUARTERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S FRIEND 
AND CO-LABORER 

" See the sage Rittenhouse with ardent eye 
Lift the long tube and pierce the starry sky! 
He marks what laws the eccentric wanderers bind. 
Copies creation in his forming mind, 
And bids beneath his hand in semblance rise 
With mimic orbs the labors of the .ikies." 

This was Barlow's way of telling of the achievement 
of David Rittenhouse, the colonial astronomer, in fash- 
ioning the marvellous orrery, the mechanical repre- 
sentation of the movements of the planetary system. 
Thomas Jefferson's prose description was a little more 
readable : 

" A machine far surpassing in ingenuity of con- 
trivance, accuracy and utility anything of the kind 
ever before constructed. . . . He has not indeed made 
a world, but he has by imitation approached more its 
Maker than any man who has lived from the creation 
to this day." 

The father of the maker of the orrery was a paper 
manufacturer near Germantown, but when David was 
three years old he moved to a little farm in Norriton, 
nineteen miles from Philadelphia, where, in 1749, he 
built the stone house in which his son spent the rest 
of his life. 

It was his purpose to make a farmer of David, and 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 171 

he might have succeeded if he had not invested in a 
few mathematical books. The twelve-year-old boy was 
fascinated by these volumes. Samuel W. Pennypacker 
has told the result: 

" The handles of his plough, and even the fences 
around the fields, he covered with mathematical calcu- 
lations. ... At seventeen he made a wooden clock, and 
afterward one in metal. Having thus tested his ability 
in an art in which he had never received any instruc- 
tion, he secured from his somewhat reluctant father 
money enough to buy in Philadelphia the necessary 
tools, and after holding a shop by the roadside, set up 
in business as a clock and mathematical instrument 
maker." 

Dr. Benjamin Rush once said that " without library, 
friends, or society, and with but two or three books, 
he became, before he had reached his four-and-twentieth 
year, the rival of two of the greatest mathematicians 
of Europe." 

The skilled astronomer was soon called upon to ren- 
der a service to several of the Colonies. By means of 
astronomical instruments he did such accurate work 
in marking out the boundary between Delaware and 
Pennsylvania that Mason and Dixon later accepted his 
results, and he settled the dispute between New Jersey 
and New York as to the point where the forty-first 
degree of latitude touches the Hudson River. Perhaps, 
however, the achievement that won for him greatest 
fame was the observation, made in 1769, of the transit 
of Venus. The importance of the observation is evi- 
dent from the facts that it provides the best means for 
calculating the distance between the heavenly bodies, 
which had never been satisfactorily made, and that the 



172 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

opportunity would not occur again for one hundred 
and five years. After months of preparation, which 
included the making of delicate instruments, Ritten- 
house, one of a committee of three appointed by the 
American Philosophical Society, succeeded. In the 
words of Pennypacker, '^ The first approximately ac- 
curate results in the measurement of the spheres were 
given to the world, not by the schooled and salaried 
astronomers who watched from the magnificent royal 
observatories of Europe, but by unpaid amateurs and 
devotees to science in the youthful province of Penn- 
sylvania." 

Benjamin Franklin found in him a kindred spirit, 
and the Philadelphian was frequently a visitor at the 
Norriton farmhouse. On Sunday the two friends often 
went to the old Norriton Presbyterian Church, which 
had been built on the corner of the Rittenhouse farm, 
within sight of the house. This church, which prob- 
ably dates from 1698, is still standing in good repair. 

Some years after the successful observation of the 
transit of Venus brought fame to the American astrono- 
mer, he moved to Philadelphia. There, among other 
duties, he had charge of the State House clock. 

At the beginning of the Revolution the Council of 
Safety asked that he should " prepare moulds for the 
casting of clock weights, and send them to some iron 
furnace, and order a sufficient number to be imme- 
diately made for the purpose of exchanging them with 
the inhabitants of this city for their leaden clock 
weights." The leaden weights were needed for bullets. 
Later he was sent to survey the shores of the Delaware, 
to choose the best points for fortifications. 

When he became Engineer of the Council of Safety 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 173 

" lie was called upon to arrange for casting can- 
non of iron and brass, to view the site for the erection 
of a Continental powder mill, to conduct experiments 
for rifling cannon and muskets, to fix upon a method of 
fastening a chain for the protection of the river, to 
superintend the manufacture of saltpeter, and to locate 
a magazine for military stores on the Wissahickon." 

This was but the beginning of service to Pennsyl- 
vania during the Revolution. His activities were so 
valuable to the Colonies that a Tory poet published in 
the Fennsylvania Evening Post of December 2, 1777, 
a verse addressed " To David Rittenhouse," of which 
the first stanza read: 

" Meddle not with state affairs, 

Keep acquaintance with the stars; 
Science, David, is thy line; 
Warp not Nature's great design. 
If thou to fame would 'st rise." 

The following year Thomas Jefferson wrote to him: 

" You should consider that the world has but one 
Rittenhouse, and never had one before. . . . Are those 
powers, then, which, being intended for the erudition 
of the world, are, like light and air, the world's com- 
mon property, to be taken from their proper pursuit 
to do the commonplace drudgery of governing a single 
State? " 

To the call of the nation Rittenhouse responded in 
April, 1792, when President Washington appointed him 
the first Director of the Mint. 

His closing years were full of honors, but his 
strength was declining rapidly; he had spent himself 
so fully for his country that his power of resistance 



174 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

was small. Just before he died, on June 26, 1796, he 
said to a friend who had been writing to him, " You 
make the way to God easier." 



XXXVIII 

THE HEADQUARTERS AT VALLEY FORGE, 
PENNSYLVANIA 

WHERE WASHINGTON LIVED DURING THE 
WINTER OF 1777-78 

A few rods from the beautiful Schuylkill River, at 
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, twenty-four miles from 
Philadelphia, is the quaint stone house where Wash- 
ington spent nearly six months of the most trying year 
of the Revolution. 

While the British troops were occupying Philadel- 
phia Congress was in session at York, Pennsylvania. 
Valley Forge was accordingly a strategic location, for 
from here it was comparatively simple to guard the 
roads leading out of Philadelphia, and to prevent both 
the exit of the British and the entrance of supplies 
designed for the enemy. 

The eleven thousand men who marched to the site 
selected for the camp were miserably equipped for a 
winter in the open. Provisions were scarce, and cloth- 
ing and shoes were even more scarce. But the men 
looked forward bravely to the months of exposure be- 
fore them. 

Washington did everything possible to provide for 
their comfort. Realizing that the soldiers needed some- 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 175 

tiling more than the tents in which they were living 
at first, he gave orders that huts should be built for 
them. The commanding officers of the regiments were 
instructed to divide their soldiers into parties of twelve, 
to see that each party had the necessary tools, and to 
superintend the building of a hut for each group of 
twelve soldiers, according to carefully stated dimen- 
sions. A reward was offered to the party in each regi- 
ment which should complete its hut in the quickest 
and best manner. Since valuable time would be lost 
in preparing boards for the roofs, he promised a second 
sword to the officer or soldier who should devise a mate- 
rial for this purpose cheaper and more quickly made 
than boards. 

Some of the first huts were covered with leaves, but 
it was necessary to provide a more lasting covering. 
After a few weeks fairly acceptable quarters were pro- 
vided for the men, in spite of the scarcity of tools. 
Colonel Pickering, on January 5, wrote to Mrs. Picker- 
ing, " The huts are very warm and comfortable, being 
very good log huts, pointed with clay, and the roof 
made tight with the same." 

At first, Washington sought to encourage his soldiers 
by assuring them that he would accept no better quar- 
ters than could be given them ; he would set the example 
by passing the winter in a hut. But officers and men 
alike urged that it would be unwise to risk his health 
in this way, and he consented to seek quarters in a 
near-by house. However, he refused to make himself 
comfortable until the men were provided for. 

His headquarters were finally fixed in the two-story 
stone- house of Isaac Potts. There he met his officers, 
received visitors, planned for the welfare of the army, 



176 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

and parried the attacks of those who could not under- 
stand the difiQculties of the situation. Once he wrote 
to Congress : " Three days successively we have been 
destitute of bread. Two days we have been entirely 
without meat. The men must be supplied, or they 
cannot be commanded." 

To the objections of those who thought that the army 
should not be inactive during the winter weather, he 
wrote : 

" I can assure these gentlemen, that it is a much 
easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances 
in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy 
a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, with- 
out clothes or blankets. However, although they seem 
to have little pity for the naked and distressed soldiers, 
I feel superabundantly for them, and, from my soul, 
I pity those miseries which it is neither in my power 
to relieve or prevent." 

The heavy hearts of Washington and his officers re- 
joiced when, on February 23, 1778, Baron Steuben and 
Peter S. Du Ponceau called at headquarters. Du Pon- 
ceau wrote later: 

" I cannot describe the impression that the first sight 
of that great man made upon me. I could not keep my 
eyes from that imposing countenance — grave, yet not 
severe; affable, without familiarity. ... I have never 
seen a picture that represents him to me as I saw him 
at Valley Forge. ... I had frequent opportunities of 
seeing him, as it was my duty to accompany the Baron 
when he dined with him, which was sometimes twice or 
thrice in the same week. We visited him also in the 
evening, when Mrs. Washington was at head-quarters. 
We were in a manner domesticated in the family." 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 177 

An order was sent from headquarters, dated March 
28, that Baron Steuben be respected and obeyed as 
Inspector General. The need of his services is revealed 
by his description of the condition of the army when 
he arrived in camp : 

" The arms at Valley Forge were in a horrible condi- 
tion, covered with rust, half of them without bayonets, 
many from which a single shot could not be fired. The 
pouches were quite as bad as the arms. A great many 
of the men had tin boxes instead of pouches, others had 
cow-horns; and muskets, carbines, fowling-pieces, and 
rifles were to be seen in the same company. . . . The 
men were literally naked. . . . The officers who had 
coats, had them of every color and make. I saw offi- 
cers, at a grand parade in Valley Forge, mounting 
guard in a sort of dressing-gown, made of an old blan- 
ket or woolen bed-cover. ..." 

Mrs. Washington joined the circle at headquarters 
on February 10. She was not favorably impressed. 
" The General's apartment is very small," she wrote. 
'' He has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has 
made our quarters much more tolerable than they were 
at first." 

The most joyful day at Valley Forge was May 7, 
1778, when a fete was held to celebrate the conclusion 
of the treaty of alliance between France and the United 
States. After religious service, the army was reviewed, 
and Washington dined in public with his officers. 
"When the General took his leave, there was a uni- 
versal clap, with loud huzzas, which continued till he 
had proceeded a quarter of a mile." 

On June 18 the glad tidings came to headquarters 
that the British were evacuating Philadelphia. Next 



178 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

day the camp was left behind. Washington did not 
see it again for nine years. 

In 1879 the Isaac Potts house was bought by the 
Continental Memorial Association of Valley Forge, 
And in 1893 the Pennsylvania Legislature created the 
Valley Forge Park Commission, which has since ac- 
quired the entire encampment, has laid it out as a park, 
and has arranged for the erection of many monuments 
and markers and a number of memorial structures. 
But the house in which Washington lived must always 
be the central feature of the grounds. 



XXXIX 

THREE HEADQUARTERS OF WASHINGTON 

PENNYPACKER'S MILLS, DAWESFIELD, AND EMLEN HOUSE, 
NEAR PHILADELPHIA 

During the closing months of 1777, one of the dark- 
est times of the Revolution, Washington made famous 
by his occupancy three houses, all located within a few 
miles of Philadelphia. The first of these, Pennypack- 
er's Mills, is the only building used by the Commander- 
in-Chief during the war that is still in the hands of the 
family that owned it when he was there. 

Pennypacker's Mills is delightfully situated in the 
angle formed by the union of the two forks of the 
Perkiomen, the largest tributary of the Schuylkill. 
Hans Joest Heijt, who built the grist mill and house 
on the land in 1720, sold the property in 1730 to John 
Pauling. He was succeeded in 1757 by Peter Panne- 




WAYNESBOROUGH, NEAK PAULl, PENNA. 



I'iiDtd III/ H. C. Howlaml 
See page 102 




MORAVIAN CHURCH, BETHLEHEM, PENNA. 



J'holo hi, H,r. A . D. riierelar, Bethlehem 
See page 190 







EMLEN HOUSE, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, PENNA 



.See pugc 17S 




FATLANDS, XEAU riluKMXVlLLE, I'EAXA. 



Phuto by Ph. B. Wallace 
See page 187 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 179 

becker. His son Samuel was the owner of the house 
by the creek when, on September 26, 1777, Washington 
reached the Mills. 

The orderly book of the following days and letters 
written from the house shed light on the events of the 
stay here. 

On the day he reached the Mills, Washington wrote 
to William Henry at Lancaster: 

" You are hereby authorized to impress all the Blan- 
kets, Shoes, Stockings, and other Articles of Clothing 
that can be spared by the Inhabitants of the County 
of Lancaster, for the Use of the Continental Army, 
paying for the same at reasonable Rates or giving 
Certificates." 

The entry in the orderly book on September 28 read : 

" The Commander-in-Chief has the happiness again 
to congratulate the army on the success of the Ameri- 
cans to the Northward. On the 19th inst. an engage- 
ment took place between General Burgoyne's army and 
the left wing of ours, under General Gates. The battle 
began at 10 o'clock, and lasted till night — our troops 
fighting with the greatest bravery, not giving an inch 
of ground. ... To celebrate this success the General 
orders that at 4 o'clock this afternoon all the troops 
be paraded and served with a gill of rum per man, and 
that at the same time there be discharges of 13 pieces 
of artillery from the park." 

On the same day there was a council of war. It was 
found that there were in camp, fit for duty, 5,472 men. 
The whole army in all the camps then contained about 
eight thousand Continental troops and three thousand 
militia. 



180 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Next day Washington wrote : 

" I shall move the Army four or five miles lower 
down to-day from whence we may reconnoitre and fix 
npon a proper situation, at such distance from the 
Enemy, as will entitle us to make an attack, should we 
see a proper opening, or stand upon the defensive till 
we obtain further reinforcements. ..." 

Later in the day the army marched to Skippack, 
within about twenty-five miles of Philadelphia. The 
next stage in the advance was Methacton Hill, and from 
there the army began to move, on October 3, at seven 
o'clock in the evening, to the attack on the British at 
Germantown. 

After the battle of Germantown Washington wrote 
to the President of Congress: 

" In the midst of the most promising appearances, 
when everything gave the most flattering hopes of vic- 
tory, the troops began suddenly to retreat, and entirely 
left the field, in spite of every effort that could be made 
to rally them." 

The Commander's marvellous ability to handle men 
was shown by the entry made in his orderly book the 
next day, when he was back at Pennypacker's Mills. 
Instead of reprimanding the soldiers for their strange 
retreat, he " returned thanks to the generals and other 
ofi&cers and men concerned in the attack on the enemy's 
left wing, for their spirit and bravery, shown in draw- 
ing the enemy from field to field, and although . . . 
they finally retreated, they nevertheless see that the 
enemy is not proof against a vigorous attack, and may 
be put to flight when boldly pursued." 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 181 

The good results of this message were evident from 
the letter of a soldier written from the Mills on Octo- 
ber 6. He said: 

*^^Our excellent General Washington . . . intends 
soon to try another bout with them. All our men are 
in good spirits and I think grow fonder of fighting the 
more they have of it." 

To the joy of the soldiers the word was given on 
October 8 to march toward Philadelphia. In three 
short stages the army arrived, on October 21, at Whit- 
pain, where Washington took up his headquarters in 
the house of James Morris, Dawesfield. From here 
messages were sent that tied his men still closer to 
him. On October 24 he issued a proclamation of full 
pardon to deserters who should return before a specified 
date, and next day he congratulated the troops on the 
victory at Red Bank. 

The chief event of the stay at Dawesfield was the 
court-martial convened October 30, to try Brigadier- 
General Wayne, at his own request, on the charge that 
his negligence was responsible for the defeat at Paoli, 
September 20. The verdict was that " he did every- 
thing that could be expected from an active, brave, and 
vigilant officer, under the orders he then had." 

Three days after the trial the army moved to White- 
marsh, near the junction of the Skippack and Bethle- 
hem roads. There Washington lived at Emlen House, 
of which Lossing says, " At the time of the Revolution 
it was a sort of baronial hall in size and character, 
where its wealthy owner dispensed hospitality to all 
who came under its roof." 

The house was modernized in 1854, but it still re- 



182 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

tains many of the original features. Among these is 
the moat at the side of the liouse. 

Washington followed the example of the owner of 
the house by welcoming guests, in spite of the 
handicaps mentioned in the orderly book on Novem- 
ber 7: 

" Since . . . the middle of September last, he [the 
General] has been without his baggage, and on that 
account is unable to receive company in the manner 
he could wish. He nevertheless desires the Generals, 
Field Officers and Brigadier-Major of the day, to dine 
with him in the future, at three o'clock in the after- 
noon." 

It was from Emlen House that Washington gave the 
first intimation that he knew of the infamous attempts 
to discredit and displace him which later became known 
as the " Conway Cabal." To General Conway himself 
he wrote saying that he had heard of Conway's letter 
to General Gates in which he had said, " Heaven has 
been determined to save your country, or a weak 
General and bad counsellors would have ruined 
it." 

A few glimpses of the awful condition of privation 
that were to prevail that winter at Valley Forge were 
given on November 22: 

" The Commander-in-Chief offers a reward of ten dol- 
lars to any person, who shall, by nine o'clock on Monday 
morning, produce the best substitute for shoes, made of 
raw hide." 

The movement to Valley Forge was begun on Decem- 
ber 1. The army went by way of " Sweeds " Ford 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 183 

(Norristown), where, as the quaint diary of Albigence 
Waldo says: 

"A Bridge of Waggons made across the Schuylkill 
last night consisted of 36 waggons, with a bridge of 
Rails between each. Sun Set — We are order'd to march 
over the River. The Army were 'till Sun Rise crossing 
the River — some at the Waggon Bridge, & some at the 
Raft Bridge below. Cold and Uncomfortable." 



XL 

SWEETBRIER-ON-THE-SCHUYLKILL, 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE HOME OF THE FATHER OF THE FREE SCHOOLS 
OF PENNSYLVANIA 

When Samuel Breck was fifty-eight years and six 
months old — on January 17, 1830 — he wrote: 

" My residence has been . . . for more than thirty 
years ... on an estate belonging to me, situated on 
the right bank of the Schuylkill, in the township of 
Blockley, county of Philadelphia, and two miles from 
the western part of the city. The mansion on this 
estate I built in 1797. It is a fine stone house, rough 
cast, fifty-three feet long, thirty-eight broad, and three 
stories high, having out-buildings of every kind suitable 
for elegance and comfort. The prospect consists of the 
river, animated by its great trade, carried on in boats 
of about thirty tons, drawn by horses; of a beautiful 
sloping lawn, terminating at that river, now nearly four 
hundred yards wide opposite the portico ; of side-screen 
woods; of gardens, green-house, etc. Sweetbrier is the 
name of my villa." 



184 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Mr. Breck spent his boyhood in Boston, but his par- 
ents removed to Philadelphia in 1792 to escape what 
they felt was an unjust system of taxation. During 
the first years of their residence in the city of William 
Penn it had " a large society of elegant and fashion- 
able and stylish people," Mr. Breck said in his diary. 
" Congress held its sessions in Philadelphia until the 
year 1800, and gave to the city the style and tone of 
a capital. All the distinguished emigrants from France 
took up their abode there." 

Among the associates of the Brecks were some of 
the leaders of the new nation. Samuel Breck was fre- 
quently at the Robert Morris house, and later, during 
the four years' imprisonment of Mr. Morris, he " visited 
that great man in the Prune Street debtors' apartment, 
and saw him in his ugly whitewashed vault." 

The diarist's comment was bitter : '' In Rome or 
Greece a thousand statesmen would have honored his 
mighty services. In a monarchy ... he would have 
been appropriately pensioned; in America, Republican 
America, not a single voice was raised in Congress or 
elsewhere in aid of him or his family." 

There is not a more striking passage in the diaries 
than that written on August 27, 1814, during the sec- 
ond war with England: 

" I was in town to-day ... at half past twelve 
o'clock I went with an immense crowd to the post- 
office to hear the news from the South. The postmaster 
read it to us from a chamber window. It imported that 
the navy -yard had been burnt (valued at from six to 
eight millions of dollars) including the new frigate 
Essex, sloop-of-war Argus, some old frigates, a vast 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 185 

quantity of timber, from five to eight hundred large 
guns, and many manufactories of cordage, etc., by our 
people; that the President's House, Capitol, and other 
important buildings had been destroyed, and all this 
by a handful of men, say, six thousand ! " 

The diary told also of some interesting experiences 
at the mansion on the Schuylkill. In 1807 " a newly 
invented iron grate calculated for coal '' was installed 
at Sweetbrier. After less than three weeks' trial Mr. 
Breck wrote, " By my experiment in coal fuel I find 
that one fireplace will burn from three to three and a 
half bushels per week in hard weather and about two 
and a half in moderate weather. This averages three 
bushels for twenty-five weeks, the period of burning 
fire in parlors." The coal cost forty-five cents a 
bushel, and Mr. Breck decided that wood was a cheaper 
fuel. 

Even in those early days city families had their 
troubles with servants. " This is a crying evil, which 
most families feel very sensibly at present," was Mr. 
Breck's sorrowful statement. Fifteen years after this 
entry was written, a bitter complaint was made: 

" In my family, consisting of nine or ten persons, 
the greatest abundance is provided; commonly seventy 
pounds of fresh butcher's meat, poultry and fish a week, 
and when I have company nearly twice as much; the 
best and kindest treatment is given to the servants; 
they are seldom visited by Mrs. Breck, and then always 
in a spirit of courtesy; their wages are the highest 
going, and uniformly paid to them when asked for; 
yet during the last twelve months we have had seven 
different cooks and five different waiters. ... I pay, 
for instance, to my cook one dollar and fifty cents, and 
chambermaid one dollar and twenty-five cents per week ; 



186 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

to my gardener eleven dollars per month ; to the waiter 
ten dollars; to the farm servant ten dollars, etc., etc. 
Now, if they remain steady (with meat three times 
a day) for three or four years, they can lay by enough 
to purchase two or three hundred acres of new land." 

On one occasion, learning that the ship John had 
arrived from Amsterdam, Mr. Breck visited it in search 
of men and women. He wrote: 

" I saw the remains of a very fine cargo, consisting 
of healthy, good-looking men, women and children, and 
I purchased one German Swiss for Mrs. Ross and two 
French Swiss for myself. ... I gave for the woman 
seventy-six dollars, which is her passage money, with 
a promise of twenty dollars at the end of three years, 
if she serves me faithfully, clothing and maintenance 
of course. The boy had paid twenty-six guilders to- 
wards his passage money, which I have agreed to give 
him at the end of three years; in addition to which I 
paid fifty-three dollars and sixty cents for his passage, 
and for two years he is to have six weeks' schooling 
each year." 

It was like Mr. Breck to make the provision for 
schooling. He was an ardent friend of education in 
an age when too many were indifferent. In 1834, when 
the fortunes of a proposal for free schools in Pennsyl- 
vania were in doubt, he consented to become a member 
of the State Senate. There he bent every effort to 
secure the passage of a generous provision for common 
schools. On the first day of the session he moved suc- 
cessfully for the appointment of a Joint Committee 
on Education of the two Houses, " for the purpose of 
digesting a general system of education." Of this com- 
mittee he was made chairman. 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 187 

After seven weeks of unremitting labor the bill in- 
corporating the committee's report, a bill drafted by 
Mr. Breck, was introduced. In six weeks more it be- 
came a law, four votes only having been cast against 
it. Wickersham, in his " History of Education in 
Pennsylvania," says that the passage of the bill was 
" the most important event connected with education 
in Pennsylvania — the first great victory for free 
schools.-' 

At the close of the session the author of the bill re- 
tired to Sweetbrier, in accordance with his intention 
to decline any further public honors. He felt that his 
work for the State and the Nation was done. 



XLI 

MILL GROVE AND FATLANDS, NEAR 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE HOMES OF JOHN J. AUDUBON AND OF HIS BRIDE, 
MARY BAKEWELL 

About two hundred years ago, there lived in France 
a poor fisherman named Audubon, who had nineteen 
daughters and two sons. One of the sons was sent 
away to make his fortune when he was twelve years 
of age. His entire patrimony was a shirt, a suit of 
clothes, a cane, and a blessing. For five years he was 
a sailor before the mast. Then he bought a boat. He 
prospered and bought other vessels. After many years 
he had large wealth, and was trading to the distant 
quarters of the earth. 



188 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

When he was an old man he paid a visit to America. 
In two widely separated places, attracted by the coun- 
try, he bought land. One estate was on Perkiomen 
Creek, near Philadelphia; the other was in Louisiana. 
In Louisiana he spent much of his time; and there, on 
May 4, 1780,^ his son, John James Audubon, was 
born. 

Commodore Audubon wanted his son to be a seaman, 
and he took him to France that he might be educated 
for the navy. But the boy's tastes were in another 
direction altogether. One of the teachers provided for 
him was an artist, who gave him lessons in drawing 
that were intended as a part of his training for the 
profession the father had chosen for him. But the 
boy put it to a use of his own. On his holidays he 
used to take a lunch into the country, and w^ould return 
loaded down with all kinds of natural history speci- 
mens. These he would preserve in a cabinet of his 
own devising, and drawings of many of them would 
be made and treasured. 

Commodore Audubon was not pleased with his son's 
habits, and he thought he would give him something 
to do that would distract his mind. The estate in 
Pennsylvania needed a superintendent. So he sent the 
would-be naturalist to America, with instructions to 
look after the estate. 

But the wild woods about Philadelphia offered so 
many opportunities for tramping and nature investiga- 
tion that the estate was neglected. The house on the 
estate. Mill Grove, which is still standing, is near the 
mouth of the Perkiomen. Along this pleasing stream 

1 This date and place were generally accepted until 1917, when 
Francis Hobart Herrick published proof that Audubon was born in 
Santo Domingo in 1785. 



THE CITY OF BKOTHERLY LOVE 189 

he could ramble for hours, with his gun or his fishing 
rod or his collecting instruments. Before long the 
attic room which he occupied was a treasure house of 
birds and animals and natural-history specimens. He 
was his own taxidermist. He would do his work seated 
at a window that looks toward the Valley Forge coun- 
try, where Washington spent the winter of 1777-78 
with his faithful soldiers. The marks of his work are 
still to be seen on the old boards beneath the window. 
These boards came from the sawmill on the estate which 
gave the house its name. 

Here in this attic room the young naturalist dreamed 
of making careful, accurate drawings of all the birds 
of America. He knew that this would be a difficult 
matter, but he was not deterred by thought of hardship 
and poverty. 

While he was dreaming of what he would do for the 
world, something was happening in London that was 
to have an effect on his life. An official named Bake- 
well refused to be silent about a matter that the king 
felt should be forgotten. Bakewell was a conscientious 
man, and he did not feel that silence would be proper. 
The king rebuked him, and he resigned his office. At 
once he made up his mind to leave England and make 
a home in America, taking with him his wife and 
daughter. 

After many investigations, he found an estate near 
Philadelphia that pleased him — Fatlands, on the 
Schuylkill, near the Perkiomen, so named because every 
year the latter stream overflows and deposits rich sedi- 
ment on the surrounding lands. The mansion house 
at Fatlands was built in 1774, and there Washington 
as well as the British commander had been entertained 



190 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

by the Quaker owner wlio felt that he could not show 
partiality. Here the English immigrant made his 
home. 

Of course Audubon heard of the coming of the 
strangers to the house across the road, not half a mile 
from his own quarters. But he did not go to call on 
them. He was French and they were English; he felt 
sure they would be undesirable acquaintances, and that 
he had better keep to the woods and follow his own 
pursuits, without reference to others. 

Then came a day when he was having a delightful 
stroll through the woods. He was carrying specimens 
of many kinds. A stranger, also a hunter, encountered 
him and made a remark about his burden that touched 
a responsive chord. Soon the two were on good terms. 
" You must come and see me," the stranger said. The 
invitation was accepted with alacrity. Then came the 
question, " Where do you live? " To his surprise, 
Audubon heard that this pleasing man was his new 
neighbor at Fatlands. 

Deciding that an Englishman was not so bad, after 
all, he made it convenient to call very soon. Then 
when he saw Mary Bakewell, the daughter of the house, 
he was sure he liked the English. She showed great 
sympathy for his pursuits, and he liked to talk 
with her about them. Before long she decided to 
help him in his great life work, the American orni- 
thology. 

The marriage was postponed because of the death 
of Mrs. Bakewell, who pined away, homesick for her 
native England. But the time came when, on April 8, 
1808, the two nature lovers became husband and wife. 
Then they began the long wanderings in the West and 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 191 

the South, the fruit of which was what has been called 
one of the most wonderful ornithological treatises ever 
made, Audubon's " Birds of America." 

Mr. and Mrs. Audubon floated down the Ohio River, 
spent a season in Kentucky and Missouri, had narrow 
escapes from the Indians, and finally found their way 
to Louisiana. There for a time the wife supported 
herself by teaching at the home of a planter. Friends 
and acquaintances thought the husband was a madman 
to continue his quest of birds when his family was in 
straitened circumstances. But Mrs. Audubon believed 
in him, urged him to go to Europe and study painting 
in oils, that he might be better equipped for the 
preparation of his bird plates. She secured a good 
situation as teacher at Bayou Sara, and was soon 
enjoying an income of three thousand dollars a 
year. 

Finally, with some of his own savings, as well as 
some of his wife's funds, he went to England, where 
he was well received. Plans were made to publish the 
bird plates, with descriptive matter, at one thousand 
dollars per set. He had to have one hundred advance 
subscribers. These he secured by personal solici- 
tation. 

At last the work was issued. Cuvier called it " the 
most magnificent work that art ever raised to orni- 
thology." 

Many years later, Audubon, after the death of his 
wife, returned to the scenes of his early life as a nat- 
uralist. " Here is where I met my dear Mary," he said, 
with glistening eyes, as he looked into one of the rooms 
of the old mansion. 

Mill Grove was built in 1762. Five years after Audu- 



192 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

bon's marriage the estate was bought by Samuel Weth- 
erill, the grandfather of the present owner, W. H. 
Wetherill. 

Fatlands, which is one of the most beautiful old 
houses in the vicinity of Philadelphia, was built in 
1774. During the Revolution it was occupied by a 
Quaker named Vaux, who entertained many officers of 
both armies. It is related that one day General Howe, 
the British commander, was entertained at breakfast, 
while Washington was in the house for tea the same 
evening. 

The house was rebuilt in 1843, on the old foundations, 
according to the original plan. 



XLII 
WAYNESBOROUGH, NEAR PAOLI, PENNSYLVANIA 

THE HOME OF " MAD ANTHONY " WAYNE 

Captain Isaac Wayne, who commanded a company 
at the Battle of the Boyne, came from Ireland to Penn- 
sylvania in 1722. Two years later he bought sixteen 
acres of land in Chester County and built Waynes- 
borough. 

His son Isaac, who was a captain in the French and 
Indian War, enlarged the mansion in 1765. While a 
wing was added in 1812, it presents much the same 
appearance to-day as it did at the time Anthony Wayne 
left it to go to war with General Washington, even to 
the crooked hood above the entrance door. The pres- 
ent owner, William Wayne, is as unwilling as were his 
ancestors to have this hood straightened. 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 193 

On the front of the house is a tablet which reads : 

The Home of General Anthony Wayne, 

Born in this House, January 1, 1745. 

Died at Erie, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1796. 

A Leader of the American Revolution in 

Pennsylvania and a soldier distinguished 

for his 

Services at Brandywine, Germantown, 

Valley Forge, 

Monmouth, Stony Point, and Yorktown. 

Subdued the Indians of Ohio, 1794. 

Commander-in-Chief of the 

United States Army 1792-1796. 

Marked by the Chester County Historical 

Society. 

To this record the statement might have been added 
that General Lafayette visited the home of his old com- 
mander when he was in the United States in 1824. 
Reverently the General bowed his head in Wayne's 
favorite sitting-room, to the right of the entrance hall, 
where nothing had been disturbed since the death of 
the patriot. The furnishings and ornaments of the 
room are the same to-day as then. 

Anthony Wayne was a delegate to several of the 
conventions which took the preliminary steps leading 
to the Revolutionary War. In 1775 he was a member 
of the Committee of Safety, and in the same year he 
organized a regiment of " minute men " in Chester 
County. 

His first active service was as colonel with troops 
sent to Canada in January, 1776, and from November, 
1776, to April, 1777, as commander of twenty-five hun- 
dred men at Ticonderoga. " It was my business to pre- 
vent a junction of the enemy's armies and ... to keep 



194 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

at bay their whole Canadian force/' he wrote in a pri- 
vate letter. 

Here, in the midst of difficulties with soldiers who 
wanted to desert, he heard that the British were threat- 
ening Waynesborough. But, like a true soldier, he 
stuck to his work, and urged his wife to be brave. 
" Should you be necessitated to leave East-town, I doubt 
not but you'll meet with hospitality in the back parts 
of the Province," he wrote to her. 

His fidelity and resourcefulness were recognized in 
February, 1777, by a commission as brigadier general. 
Washington, who was then in New Jersey, wrote to 
him a little later, saying that his presence with him 
was " materially needed," to guard the country between 
West Point and Philadelphia. And when the British 
fleet sailed out of New York Harbor, Washington sent 
him to Chester, to organize the militia of Pennsylvania. 
A few weeks later he was in charge of a division at 
Brandywine. Historians say that his steadfastness on 
the left prevented the advance of Knyphausen, and 
saved the right from entire destruction. 

Less than a week later, within a mile of his own 
house, he was surprised by the enemy near Paoli, in 
consequence, it is said, of the act of an inn-keeper who 
betrayed Wayne's presence to the British. The result 
was the only defeat of his brilliant career. Eighty of 
his men were killed. The engagement has been called 
"the Paoli Massacre," because of the conduct of the 
victors. Wayne escaped. A squad of soldiers searched 
for him at Waynesborough. When they could not find 
him in the house, they thrust their bayonets into the 
great boxwood bush that is still to be seen in the rear 
of the mansion. 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 195 

Because some said that the General was responsible 
for the defeat, he demanded a court-martial. The court- 
martial was held soon after, and he was acquitted with 
the highest honor, and was declared to be " an active, 
brave, and vigilant officer." 

Washington's letters and orderly book are full of 
references to Wayne. He was a trusted commander, 
and his advice was followed many times. He it was 
who first proposed that the army should " hut " during 
the winter of 1776-77, some twenty miles from Phila- 
delphia. He was always eager to do his Commander's 
bidding. On one occasion, when he was in Philadel- 
phia, on his way to greet his family, he was met by a 
fast rider who handed him a despatch in which Wash- 
ington said, " I request that you join the army as soon 
as you can." 

During his long absence from Waynesborough his 
wife Polly and his children were continually in his 
thoughts. Once he wrote: 

" I am not a little anxious about the education of 
our girl and boy. It is full time that Peggy should be 
put to dancing school. How does she improve in her 
writing and reading? Does Isaac take learning freely? 
Has he become fond of school?" 

Just before the storming of Stony Point, he prepared 
for death, sending to a friend a letter which was not 
to be opened until the author was dead. The letter 
said: 

" I know that your friendship will induce you to at- 
tend to the education of my little son and daughter. 
I fear that their mother will not survive this stroke. 
Do go to her." 



196 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

On the way up the mount he was grievously wounded 
and fell senseless. Soon he roused himself and cried, 
" Lead me forward. . . . Let me die in the fort." Sev- 
eral hours later he was able to send word to Washing- 
ton, " The fort and garrison are ours." 

In this spirit he served through the war. And when 
the action was won he continued to fight for his coun- 
try. On February 6, 1796, ClaypooFs Daily American 
Advertiser told of his return from his successful cam- 
paign against the Indians of Ohio: 

" Four miles from the city, he was met by the entire 
Troop of Philadelphia Light Horse, and escorted by 
them to town. On his crossing the Schuylkill, a salute 
of fifteen guns was fired from the Centre-square, by a 
party of Artillery. He was ushered into the city by 
the ringing of bells and other demonstrations of joy." 



XLIII 

THE MORAVIAN CHURCH, BETHLEHEM, 
PENNSYLVANIA 

A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY WHOSE FOUNDERS WERE 
TRUE PATRIOTS 

The Unitas Fratrum or Church of the Brethren arose 
in the fifteenth century in Bohemia and Moravia. In 
1727 intolerance led its leaders to begin to plan an 
emigration to America. A colony was sent to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1734, while a second colony went to Georgia 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 197 

in 1735. Late in the year 1740 the remnant of the 
emigrants to Georgia joined forces with the Pennsyl- 
vania contingent, and settled on five thousand acres of 
land in the " Forks of the Delaware," as the locality 
just within the confluence of the Delaware River and 
the Lehigh or " West Fork of the Delaware " was called. 
The object of the settlers was to preach to the Indians, 
and they began at once to win the confidence of the 
Delawares. 

The first house was built in 1741. This was twenty 
by forty feet, one story high, with sleeping quarters 
for a number of persons in the attic under the steep 
pitched roof. The cattle were kept in a portion of 
the house partitioned off for them. The common room 
in which they lived was also the place of worship for 
more than a year. The site of this house is marked 
by a memorial stone, which was put in place in 
1892. 

The foundation for the Gemeinhaus, or Community 
House, was laid in September. For many years this 
was to serve as home and hospice, manse and church, 
administration office, academy, dispensary, and town- 
hall. As " The House on the Lehigh," it became known 
through all the countryside. 

The event of the year 1741 was the coming of Count 
Zinzendorf. The Community House was not yet fin- 
ished, but two rooms in the second story were hurriedly 
prepared for the guest. 

No name had yet been given to the settlement, but 
on Christmas Eve, after Zinzendorf had celebrated the 
Holy Communion in the building, the only fitting name 
suggested itself. Bishop Levering of the Moravian 
Church tells the story: 



198 HISTOKIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

" This humble sanctuary, with beasts of the stall 
sharing its roof, brought the circumstances of the 
Saviour's birth vividly before their imagination. . . . 
Acting upon an impulse, the Count rose and led the 
way into the part of the building in which the cattle 
were kept, while he began to sing the quaintly pretty 
words of a German Epiphany hymn which combined 
Christmas thoughts and missionary thoughts. ... Its 
language expressed well the feeling of the hour. . . . 
The little town of Bethlehem was hailed, its boon to 
mankind was lauded. . . . With this episode a thought 
came to one and another which gave rise to a perpetual 
memorial of the occasion. . . . By general consent the 
name of the ancient town of David was adopted and 
the place was called Bethlehem." 

The chapel of the Gemeinhaus was used by the con- 
gregation for nine years. During this period many of 
the Indians were baptised there. In 1752 and again 
in 1753 councils were held here with the representa- 
tives of the Nanticoke and Shawnee Indians from the 
Wyoming Valley. 

The second place of worship was an extension of the 
Gemeinhaus, completed in 1751. Here congregations 
gathered for fifty-five years. Here the gospel was 
preached by some of the most eminent ministers of 
colonial days, while the records show that famous vis- 
itors sat in the pews. Among them were Governor 
John Penn; Generals Washington, Amherst, Gage, 
Gates, and Lafayette; John Hancock, Henry Laurence, 
Samuel and John Adams, Richard Henry Lee, and 
many other delegates to the Continental Congress. 

During the Revolution there were no more earnest 
patriots than the members of the Moravian Community 
at Bethlehem. At one time the Single Brethren's House 



THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 199 

was used for eight months as a hospital, and no charge 
was made, though in 1779 a bill for repairs was sent 
which amounted to |358. 

A letter from David Rittenhouse, received on Sep- 
tember 16, 1778, caused great excitement for he told 
of the despatch to Bethlehem of all the military stores 
of Washington's army, carried in seven hundred wag- 
ons. This was done because Washington's army had 
been compelled to fall back on Philadelphia. It was 
also thought wise to send the bells of Christ Church 
and of Independence Hall to Allentown, by way of 
Bethlehem. The wagon on which Independence Bell 
was loaded broke down on descending the hill in front 
of the hospital, and had to be unloaded while repairs 
were being made. 

The most distinguished patient cared for in Bethle- 
hem was the Marquis de Lafayette, who was brought 
from Brandywine, and was nursed by Sister Liesel 
Beckel. 

Twenty years after the close of the war it was de- 
cided that the time had come for the building of a 
permanent church. The first estimate was made in 

1802. At that time it was thought that the total cost 
would be 111,000, " It is interesting to note how very 
modern they were in underestimating the probable cost 
of a church," Bishop Levering says. The actual cost, 
including the organ, was more than five times the esti- 
mate. 

The excavation for the building was made in March, 

1803, by volunteer laborers, to whom the residents of 
the Sisters' House furnished lunch. The work was com- 
pleted in two weeks. Then the great foundation walls 
were laid, six feet thick. 



200 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

For the services of consecration, held from May 18 to 
May 26, 1806, six thousand people gathered in the vil- 
lage of five hundred inhabitants. On the first day, " at 
five o'clock in the morning the jubilant note of trom- 
bones, trumpets, and other wind instruments from the 
belfry of the church broke the stillness of the awaking 
village with a musical announcement of the festival 
day." 

The Moravian Community at Bethlehem has grown. 
But those who worship in the old church are animated 
by the same missionary enthusiasm that characterized 
those who founded the institution so long ago. 



FIVE: OVER THE MASON AND 
DIXON LINE 



Afar, through the melloiv hazes 
Where the dreams of June are stayed, 
The hills, in their vanishing mazes, 
Carry the flush, and fade ! 
Southward they fall, and reach 
To the hay and the ocean teach. 
Where the soft, half-Syrian air 
Blows from the Chesapeake's 
Inlets, coves, and creeks 
On the fields of Delaware! 
And the rosy lakes of flowers. 
That here alone are ours. 
Spread into seas that pour 
Billoiv and spray of pink. 
Even to the blue wave's brink, 
All doum the Eastern Shore! 



Bayabd Taylor. 



FIVE: OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 



XLIV 

HISTORIC LANDMARKS AT NEW CASTLE, 
DELAWARE 

THE FIRST LANDING PLACE OF WILLIAM PENN 

How many students of United States history would 
be able to answer the question, " What town has had at 
least seven different names and has been under the flags 
of four different countries? " 

There is such a town, and but one — New Castle, Dela- 
ware. The Swedes laid it out in 1631, and called it New 
Stockholm. In 1651 the Dutch built a fort there, and 
called it Fort Kasimir. Sandhoec was a second Dutch 
name. When the Dutch West India Company ceded it 
to the city of Amsterdam it was named New Amstel. 
After 1675 the English took a hand in naming the vil- 
lage. Grape Wine Point, Delaware Town, and, at 
length. New Castle were the last names assigned to the 
seaport that, within a generation, boasted twenty-five 
hundred inhabitants. 

The site of Fort Kasimir was long ago covered by the 
Delaware. A quaint house, still occupied, is the only 
survival from the Dutch period. But it would be dif- 
ficult to find a town of four thousand inhabitants which 
is so rich in buildings and traditions that go back to the 
earliest English occupation. 

203 



204 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Many of the buildings and traditions centre about the 
old Market Square, in the centre of the town, only a 
few hundred feet from the Delaware. This square dates 
from the days of Petrus Stuyvesaut, in 1658. At one 
end of the square is the old stone-paved courthouse, 
which has been in use since 1672. To this building 
William Penn was welcomed, as a tablet on the outer 
wall relates : 

" On the 28th Day of October, 1682, William Penn, 
the Great Proprietor, on His First Landing in America, 
Here Proclaimed His Government and Received from 
the Commissioner of the Duke of York the Key of the 
Fort, the Turf, Twig, and Water, as Symbols of His 
Possession." 

From the steps of the courthouse, as a centre, was 
surveyed the twelve-mile circle whose arc was to be 
the northern line of Delaware, according to the royal 
grant made to Penn. This arc forms the curious circu- 
lar boundary, unlike any other boundary in the United 
States. 

In the rear of the courthouse, though still on the 
green Market Square, is old Emmanuel Protestant 
Episcopal Church, which was organized in 1689, though 
the building now occupied was begun in 1703. This 
cruciform structure is the oldest church of English 
building on the Delaware, and services have been held 
here continuously since 1706, when it was completed. 
Queen Anne gave to the church a " Pulpit and Altar 
Cloath, with a Box of Glass.'' A memorial tablet on 
the wall tells of the first rector, Rev. George Ross, who 
came as a missionary from England in 1703, and served 
for fifty years. His son, also George Ross, was one of 





Photo by Ph.B. \\:,/l,,r, 
DOORWAY OF RODNEY HOUSE, 
NEW CASTLE, DEL. 



Photo by Ph.B. WaUace 
DOORWAY OF STEWART HOUSE, 
NEW CASTLE, DEL. 




rh.,to by Ph.B. Wallace 
DOORWAY OF lil.AD lluUSE, 
NEW CASTLE, DEL. 

See page 207 




Photo by Ph B Tl allace 
DOORWAY OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



NEW CASTLE, DEL. 



See page 205 




AMSTEL HOUSE, NEWCASTLE, DEL, 



Pliotu by Ph. B. Walkue 
See page 205 






.IME Hl ^^ 




/■/,-,/,, i.<, /'/,, H. Wnlbirr 
DOORWAif OF AMSTEL HOUSE, 
NEWCASTLE, DEL. 

See page 205 




Photo by Pk. B. Wallace 
HALL OF READ HOUSE, 
NEWCASTLE, DEL. 

See page 207 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 205 

the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. His 
daughter Gertrude married George Read, another of the 
Signers. The tomb of George Read is in the rear of the 
church. 

Across the street from the Market Square is the Pres- 
byterian church, whose first building, erected in 1707, 
is still in use as a part of its ecclesiastical plant. The 
pastor and many of the members of this church had a 
prominent part in the War of the Revolution. 

The visitor who crosses from one of these churches to 
the other is attracted by a stone pyramid, on the edge of 
the Market Square, whose story is told by a tablet : 

"These stones were sleepers in the New Castle and 
Frenchtown Railroad, completed in 1831, the first rail- 
road in Delaware, and one of the first in the United 
States." 

The fire of 1824 which burned a large part of New 
Castle destroyed many of the old houses, but there re- 
main enough to make the town a Mecca for those who 
delight in studying things that are old. Most of these 
houses are on the square, or are within a short distance 
of it. All are remarkable for the beautiful entrance 
doorways and wonderfully carved interior woodwork. 
Artists from all parts of the country turn to these 
houses for inspiration in their work. 

The Amstel House, the home of Henry Hanby Hay, 
is the oldest of these ; it was probably built about 1730. 
One of its earliest owners was Nicholas Van Dyke, who 
was a major of militia during the Revolution, and later 
served six years in the Continental Congress. For three 
years he was Governor of Delaware. During his resi- 
dence in this house it was called " The Corner." So, at 



206 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA' 

least, it was referred to by Kensey Johns in a love-letter 
to comely Anne Van Dyke, written during the cold 
winter of 1784: 

" This evening I visited ' the Corner.' Soon after I 
went in Mrs. V. says, ' Well, Mr. Johns, what say you 
to a ride below with me, and bringing Miss Nancy up? ' 
After an hour passed, I recovered myself and answered 
in the negative, that my business would not permit of 
it — Your papa discovered by his countenance the lightest 
satisfaction at my refusal; this approbation of his af- 
forded me great pleasure. The more I regard your 
happiness, the more desirous I am by assiduity and 
attention to business to establish a character which will 
give me consequence and importance in life. I wish to 
see you more than words express. 

" Mrs. B. says she wants you to come up very much ; 
she asked me to use my influence to persuade you. All 
I can say is, that if your Grand Mama's indisposition 
will admit of it, and your inclination prompts you to 
come, it will much contribute to my happiness, even if 
I should only see you now and then for a few moments. 
My fingers are so cold I can scarce hold my pen, there- 
fore adieu. Be assured that I never cease to be, 
" Yours most affectionately, 

" Kensey Johns." 

On a pane of glass in the guest chamber of the old 
house some one long ago scratched with a diamond a 
message that sounds as if it came from the heart of the 
lover : 

"Around her head ye angels constant Vigil keep, 
And guard fair innocence her balmy sleep." 

Three months after Kensey Johns wrote the ardent 
letter to Anne Van Dyke, the day after the wedding, 
April 30, 1784, George Washington came to the Corner, 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 207 

and there was a reception in his honor and that of 
the bride and groom. The Father of his Country 
received the guests standing before an old fireplace 
whose hearthstone has been lettered in memory of the 
event. 

A few years later Kensey Johns, then Chief Justice 
of Maryland, built near by a beautiful colonial mansion 
where he entertained many of the leading men of the 
nation. 

Kensey Johns' predecessor as Chief Justice was 
George Read, the Signer. His house, an old record says, 
stood so near the Delaware, which is here two and a half 
miles wide, that when the tide was high one wheel of a 
carriage passing in the street in front of it was in the 
water, and in violent storms the waves were dashed 
against the building. The house was in the midst of 
a wonderfully beautiful garden. This garden is still 
one of the sights of the town, though the house was 
destroyed in the fire of 1824. 

George Read, the Signer's son, in 1801, built a house 
in the corner of the garden, which was saved from the 
fire by a carpet laid on the roof and kept thoroughly wet 
until the danger was past. This Georgian house is a 
marvel of beauty, both inside and out. The hand-carved 
moldings, mantels, and arches bring to the house visi- 
tors from far and near. Miss Hatty Smith, the present 
owner, delights to show the place to all who are inter- 
ested. 

In the early days New Castle was on the King's Road 
from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Washington passed 
this way when on his journeys. Lafayette visited the 
town in 1824. The house built by Nicholas Van Dyke, 
son of the owner of the Corner, received him for the 



208 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

marriage of Charles I. Dii Pont and Dorcas M. Van 
Dyke. It is recorded that on this occasion he gave the 
bride away. 

Caesar Rodney, too, passed through the town fre- 
quently, notably when he made the famous ride in July, 
1776, that helped to save the Declaration of Independ- 
ence; here he rested after the first stage of his historic 
journey. 

The name of George Thomson, secretary of Congress 
during the Revolution, is also enrolled in the list of the 
worthies who visited the town. In 1740 his father, when 
on his way from Ireland to America with his three 
sons, died on shipboard. The captain appropriated the 
meagre possessions of the family and set the boys ashore 
at New Castle, penniless. George was sheltered by a 
butcher who was so delighted with him that he decided 
to bring him up to the trade. George was terrified 
when he overheard the man's plan; he did not intend 
to be a butcher. So he stole out of the town between 
dark and daylight and made his way to surroundings 
where the way was opened that led him to usefulness 
and fame. 



XLV 

THE RIDGELY HOUSE, DOVER, DELAWARE 

A BOYHOOD HAUNT OF C^SAR RODNEY, THE SIGNER 

On the Green in Dover, Delaware, is one of the most 
striking houses of the quaint old town — the Ridgely 
house. The date of its erection is not certain, but it 
is an interesting fact that on one of the bricks is the 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 209 

date 1728. Originally there were but two rooms in the 
house; subsequent enlargements have been so harmoni- 
ous that one who sees the place from the Green must 
pause to admire. Admiration turns to delight when the 
interior of the house is examined. The old-fashioned 
garden at the rear intensifies delight. 

Dr. Charles Greenburg Ridgely became owner of the 
property in 1769. The house was a gift from his father, 
Nicholas Ridgely. The second of the wives who lived 
here with Dr. Ridgely was Ann, the daughter of Squire 
William Moore of Moore Hall, near Valley Forge, Penn- 
sylvania, whose determined advocacy of armed prepara- 
tion for defence against a threatened Indian attack once 
aroused the indignation of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 
most of whose members were Friends. 

The Ridgely house was famous throughout Delaware 
as the resort of patriots. Dr. Ridgely was six times a 
member of the Provincial Assembly, and was also an 
active member of the Constitutional Convention of 
Delaware in 1776. 

During the days when patriotic feelings were begin- 
ning to run high, Csesar Rodney, the ward of Dr. 
Ridgely's father, was often an inmate of the Ridgely 
house. Caesar was born near Dover in 1728. At Dover 
he received most of his education. Some twenty years 
after the little town saw so much of him he became 
famous because of his vital service to the Colonies, as a 
member of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. 
" He was the most active, and was by odds the leading 
man in the State in espousing the American cause," 
Henry C. Conrad once said to the Sons of Delaware. In 
the course of his address Mr. Conrad told the thrilling 
story of Caesar Rodney's most spectacular service. 



210 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA^ 

On July 1, 1776, when the vote was taken in the 
Committee of the Whole of the Continental Congress 
as to the framing and proclaiming of the Declaration of 
Independence, ten of the thirteen Colonies voted yes. 
" Pennsylvania had seven delegates, four of whom were 
opposed to it, and three in favor of it. Delaware had 
two members present, McKean and Read. Rodney was 
absent. McKean was in favor of, and Read against 
the Declaration. McKean, appreciating that it was 
most important, for the sentiment it would create, that 
the Declaration of Independence should be proclaimed 
by the unanimous vote of the thirteen Colonies, sent for 
Rodney, who was at that time at one of his farms near 
Dover. Rodney came post-haste, and he arrived just in 
time to save the day, and cast the vote of Delaware in 
favor of the Declaration. 

McKean, writing of the event years afterward to 
Caesar A. Rodney, a nephew of Csesar Rodney, said : 

" I sent an express, at my own private expense, for 
your honored uncle, the remaining member from Dela- 
ware, whom I met at the State House door, in his boots 
and spurs, as the members were assembling. After a 
friendly salutation, without a word in the business, we 
went into the hall of Congress together, and found we 
were among the latest. Proceedings immediately com- 
menced, and after a few minutes the great question was 
put. When the vote of Delaware was called, your uncle 
arose and said : * As I believe the voice of my con- 
stituents and of all sensible and honest men is in favor 
of independence, and my own judgment coincides with 
theirs, I vote for independence.' " 

Since Pennsylvania also voted in favor of the Dec- 
laration, it was adopted unanimously. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 211 

Csesar Rodney was Governor of Delaware from 1778 
to 1781. On April 8, 1784, the State Council, of which 
he was presiding officer, met at his house near Dover, 
because he was too ill to go to Dover. Less than three 
months later he died. 

A monument marks his last resting-place in Christ 
Episcopal churchyard in Dover. 



XLVI 

REHOBOTH CHURCH ON THE POCOMOKE, 
MARYLAND 

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The Pocomoke River rises in southern Delaware, 
forms a part of the eastern boundary of Somerset 
County, Maryland, and empties into Pocomoke Sound, 
an inlet of Chesapeake Bay. On the banks of this 
stream, not far from the mouth. Colonel William 
Stevens, a native of Buckinghamshire, England, located 
in 1665, taking out a patent on what he called the Reho- 
both plantation, the name being chosen from Genesis 
26 :22. " And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And 
he said. For now the Lord hath made room for us, and 
we shall be fruitful in this land." When Somerset 
County was organized he was made Judge of the County 
Court. He also became a member of " His Lordship's 
Councill," and was one of the Deputy Lieutenants of 
the Province. 

I^s the years passed many followed Colonel Stevens 



212 HISTOKIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

to Somerset County, in search of religious freedom. 
Scotch, Scotch-Irish, French, and Quakers were repre- 
sented in the village that was known at first as Poco- 
moke Town, though later it was called Rehoboth. Many 
of these settlers were Presbyterians, who had lost their 
property through persecution. 

In 1672 the Grand Jury, encouraged by Judge 
Stevens, asked Rev. Robert Maddux to preach at four 
points in the county. One of these points was the plan- 
tation house at Rehoboth. The next year George Fox, 
the Quaker, was in the community. He also preached 
in his famous " leather breeches " at Colonel Stevens' 
plantation, to a great congregation of several thousand 
whites and Indians, A Quaker monthly meeting fol- 
lowed. 

The number of Presbyterians increased to such an 
extent that in 1680 Colonel Stevens asked the Presby- 
tery of Laggan in Ireland for a godly minister to gather 
the band of exiles into a church. Francis Makemie was 
sent as a result. Soon Rehoboth Church was organized 
by him, as well as a number of other churches in the 
neighborhood. The exact date of the beginning of 
Rehoboth Church is uncertain, but it is probable that 
the first building was erected about 1683. 

For some years Makemie travelled from place to 
place, preaching and organizing churches as he went, 
but from 1699 to 1708, except in 1704 and 1705, when 
he visited Europe, he lived in the neighborhood and 
preached at Rehoboth whenever he was at home. 

When it became necessary to erect a new church build- 
ing, he decided to have this on his own land, because of 
Maryland's intolerant laws. This building, which is 
still in use, dates from 1706, the year when its builder 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 213 

assisted in organizing the first Presbytery of the Pres- 
byterian Church at Philadelphia. 

Makemie's name will ever be connected with the 
struggle for religious liberty. He had a certificate from 
the court that permitted him to preach in the Province 
of Maryland, but he had many trying experiences in 
spite of this fact. His congregation groaned under the 
necessity of paying taxes to support the rectors of three 
neighboring parishes. 

The greatest trial was not in Maryland, but in New 
York, where he spent a portion of 1706 and 1707. His 
experiences there should be familiar to all who are inter- 
ested in the struggle for religious liberty in America. 

The story is told in a curious document written by 
Makemie himself, which was printed in New York in 
1707, under the title "A Particular Narrative of the 
Imprisonment of two Non-Conformist Ministers; and 
Prosecution & Tryal of one of them, for Preaching one 
Sermon in the city of New- York. By a Learner of Law 
and Lover of Liberty." 

The warrant for the arrest of the " criminal " was 
addressed to Thomas Cordale, Esqr., High-Sheriff of 
Queens County on Long-Island, or his Deputy, and was 
signed by Lord Cornbury. It read : 

" Whereas I am informed, that one Mackennan, and 
one Hampton, two Presbyterian Preachers, who lately 
came to this City, have taken upon them to Preach in a 
Private House, without having obtained My Licence for 
so doing, which is directly contrary to the known Laws 
of England, and being likewise informed, that they are 
gone into Long-Island, with intent there to spread their 
Pernicious Doctrines and Principles, to the great dis- 
turbance of the Order by Law established by the Gov- 
ernment of this province. You are therefore hereby 



214 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Required and Commanded, to take into your Custody 
the Bodies of the said Mackennan and Hamptop, and 
then to bring them with all convenient speed before me, 
at Fort-Anne, in New- York." 

When brought before Lord Cornbury, Makemie said : 
" We have Liberty from an Act of Parliament, made the 
first year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary, 
which gave us Liberty, with which Law we have com- 
plied." 

But Lord Cornbury replied : " No one shall Preach in 
my Government without my Licence. . . . That Law 
does not extend to the American Plantations, but only 
to England. ... I know, for I was at Making there- 
of. .. . That Act of Parliament was made against 
Strowling Preachers, and you are such, and shall not 
Preach in my Government." 

Makemie again challenged Lord Cornbury to show 
" any Pernicious Doctrine in the Confession of Faith 
of the Presbyterian Church." Later he refused to give 
" Bail and Security to Preach no more." 

" Then you must go to Gaol," his Lordship said. 

On January 23 another warrant was given to the 
High Sheriff of New York. He was told " to safely 
keep till further orders " the prisoners committed to 
him. 

From the prison Makemie sent a petition asking to 
know the charge, and demanding a speedy trial. Later 
the prisoner was released on habeas corpus proceedings. 

At the trial, where Makemie conducted his own de- 
fence, he read Chapter 23 of the Westminster Confession 
of Faith, as a complete reply to the charge that he be- 
lieved what incited the people to disregard the authority 
of the king. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 215 

The jury brought in a verdict of " not guilty," but 
Makemie was obliged to pay the costs, including the 
fees of the Court Prosecutor, which amounted to twelve 
pounds. The total cost of the trial, including the ex- 
pense of a trip from his home in Maryland, made neces- 
sary by a recess in the trial, was more than eighty 
pounds. 

A few months later Makemie died. It was felt by 
those who knew him that the trying experiences at New 
York hastened his end. 

He had not lived in vain. His struggles for religious 
liberty were to bear rich fruit before many years. 

Henry van Dyke wrote a sonnet to the memory of 
Francis Makemie, which was read on May 14, 1908, 
when the monument to the memory of the pioneer was 
unveiled : 

**To thee, plain hero of a rugged race, 

We bring a meed of praise too long delayed ! 
Thy fearless word and faithful work have made 
Of God's Republic a firmer resting-place 
In this New World: for thou hast preached the grace 
And power of Christ in many a forest glade, 
Teaching the truth that leaves men unafraid 
Of frowning tyranny or death's dark face. 

*' Oh, who can tell how much we owe to thee, 
Makemie, and to labor such as thiae, 
For all that makes America the shrine 
Of faith untrammelled and of conscience free? 
Stand here, grey stone, and consecrate the sod 
Where rests this brave Scotch-Irish man of God." 



216 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XLVII 

DOUGHOREGAN MANOR, NEAR ELLICOTT CITY, 
MARYLAND 

WHOSE OWNER WAS THE LAST SURVIVING SIGNER OP THE 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

It is true that when Charles Carroll was about to 
sign his name to the Declaration of Independence he 
added the words, " of Carrollton," but the story that he 
added the words there that he might be distinguished 
from a second Charles Carroll is an error; he had been 
Avriting his name thus since 1765. It would have been 
just as true a description if he had used the name of 
another of the numerous Carroll estates, Doughoregan 
Manor, but the designation he chose was simpler. At 
any rate he could not spell it in so many ways as the 
name of the family estate where he lived and died. Let- 
ters written by him at different periods show such di- 
verse spellings as " Doeheragen," " Doohoragen," " Doo- 
heragon," and " Dougheragen," before he settled down 
to " Doughoregan." 

Doughoregan Manor, which was named for one of 
the O'Carroll estates in Ireland, is one of the most an- 
cient family seats in Maryland. In 1688 Charles Car- 
roll, I, came over from England. He became a large 
landed proprietor, in part as a result of his appeal to 
the king of England for a part in the estate of the 
O'Carrolls of King's County, Ireland. The king satis- 
fied the claim by offering him 60,000 acres of land in 
the Colonies. His heir was Charles Carroll, II, who 




K11)(.KI.\ mn >1'., L)(I\KK, UKL. 



Photo by 1{ V. Holmes 
See page 208 







DOUGHOREGAN MANOR, NEAR ELLICOTT CITY, MD. 



Photo btj James F. Uik./Iha ComiMiiy, Baltimore 
See page 216 




Plwlo Inj Ph. R. Wnlhire 



IMMANUEL CHURCH, NEWCASTLE, DEL. 



See page 204 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 217 

was born in 1702. Fifteen years later Doughoregan 
Manor was built, and twenty-seven years later Charles 
Carroll, II, and his brother Daniel sold sixty acres of 
land which became the site of old Baltimore. 

Charles Carroll, II, divided his time between Dougho- 
regan Manor and the Carroll Mansion in Annapolis, his 
town house. Here was born, in 1737, Charles Carroll, 
III, the Signer. Most of the education of this heir to 
the vast estate of Charles Carroll, II, was secured in 
France. He was in Paris when his father wrote to him, 
in 1764, telling him of the large property that was to 
come to him. After speaking of this in detail, he con- 
cluded : 

" On my death I am willing to add my Manor of 
Doughoregan, 10,000 acres, and also 1,425 Acres called 
Chance adjacent thereto, on the bulk of which my ne- 
groes are settled. As you are my only child, you will, 
of course, have all the residue of my estate at my death." 

When the estate of his father finally came into his 
hands, Charles Carroll, III, was the richest man in 
Maryland. That he knew how to handle such a large 
property he showed by a letter which he wrote to his 
son, Charles Carroll, IV, on July 10, 1801 : 

" He who postpones till to-morrow what can and 
ought to be done to-day, will never thrive in this world. 
It was not by procrastination this estate was acquired, 
but by activity, thought, perseverance, and economy, and 
by the same means it must be preserved and prevented 
from melting away." 

But while the owner of Doughoregan Manor was care- 
ful, he was not penurious. He kept open house to his 
numerous friends, of whom George Washington was one. 



218 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

In one of the rooms of the Manor Washington sat to 
Gilbert Stuart for his portrait. 

Both Mr. Carroll's property and his services were at 
his country's call. From the days of the Stamp Act to 
the close of the Revolution there was no more ardent 
patriot than he. He served as a member of the Conti- 
nental Congress, was for three months with Washington 
at Valley Forge, by appointment of Congress, was later 
United States Senator, and was a leader in business as 
well as in political affairs. With Washington he was 
a member from the beginning of the Potomac Canal 
Company, which later was merged into the Chesapeake 
and Ohio Canal Company. 

After the Revolution he spent most of his time at 
Doughoregan Manor, where he completed the remark- 
able three-hundred-foot facade by the addition of the 
chapel which has been used by the family for more than 
a century. 

One by one the sons and daughters went out from 
the house, carrying the Carroll name or the Carroll 
training into many sections of Maryland and Virginia. 
Perhaps the most interesting marriage was that of 
Charles Carroll, IV, who was mentioned by Washing- 
ton in his diary for 1798 : 

" March 27 — Mr. Charles Carroll, Jr. . . . came to 
dinner. 

" March 28 — Mr. Carroll went away after breakfast." 

William Spohn Baker, in "Washington after the 
Revolution," after quoting these extracts from the 
diary, says : 

" The visit of young Mr. Carroll having given rise at 
Annapolis to a rumor that it was made with the inten- 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 219 

tion of paying his addresses to Nelly Custis, her brother 
wrote to the General in allusion to it, saying, ^ I think 
it a most desirable match, and wish that it may take 
place with all my heart.' In reply, under date of April 
15, Washington wrote, ' Young Mr. Carroll came here 
about a fortnight ago to dinner, and left on next morn- 
ing after breakfast. If his object was such as you say 
has been reported, it was not declared here; and there- 
fore, the less is said upon the subject, particularly by 
your sister's friends, the more prudent it will be, until 
the subject develops itself more.' 

" But youthful alliances are not always made at the 
nod of Dame Rumor, nor are they always controlled by 
the wishes of relatives. Nelly Custis married, Febru- 
ary 22, 1799, at Mount Vernon, Laurence Lewis, a 
nephew of Washington; and Charles Carroll, Junior, 
found, in the following year, a bride at Philadelphia, 
Harriet, a daughter of Benjamin Chew " [of Cliveden]. 

A delightful picture of life at the Manor was given 
by Adam Hodgson, an English visitor, who wrote from 
Baltimore on July 13, 1820 : 

" I have lately been paying some very agreeable visits 
at the country seats of some of my acquaintances in 
the neighborhood. . . . The other morning I set out, 
at four o'clock, with General H, on a visit to a most 
agreeable family, who reside at a large Manor, about 
seventeen miles distant. We arrived about seven 
o'clock, and the family soon afterward assembled to 
breakfast. It consisted of several friends from France, 
Canada, and Washington, and the children and grand- 
children of my host, a venerable patriarch, nearly eighty- 
five (83) years of age, and one of the four survivors 
of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. 
. . . After breakfasting the following morning, the 
ladies played for us on the harp ; and in the evening, I 
set out on horseback, to return hither, not without a 
feeling of regret, that I had probably taken a final leave 



220 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

of my hospitable friend, who, although still an ex- 
pert horseman, seldom goes beyond the limits of his 
manor. ..." 

The other three surviving Signers died first, so that 
when Charles Carroll of Carrollton followed on No- 
vember 14, 1832, the last Signer was gone. Among his 
last words were these : 

" I have lived to my ninety-sixth year ; I have enjoyetl 
continued health, I have been blessed with great wealth, 
prosperity, and most of the good things which this world 
can bestow — public approbation, esteem, applause; but 
what I now look back on with the greatest satisfaction 
to myself is, that I have practiced the duties of my 
religion." 

He was buried under the pavement of the chapel at 
the Manor. 

The present occupants of Doughoregan are Mr. and 
Mrs. Charles Carroll, who followed Governor John Lee 
Carroll, after his death in 1911. 



XLVIII 

THE UPTON SCOTT HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, 
MARYLAND 

WHERE, AS A BOY, THE AUTHOR OF "THE STAR-SPANGLED 
BANNER" WAS A FREQUENT VISITOR 

When Colonel James Wolfe was campaigning in Scot- 
land in 1748 to 1753, one of the surgeons in his command 
was Upton Scott, a young Irishman from County An- 
trim. At that time began a friendship between the two 
men that continued through life. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 221 

Another friend made at this time by the young sur- 
geon was Horatio Sharpe. In 1753, when Sharpe 
phxnned to go to America, Dr. Scott decided to go with 
him, though it was not easy to think of resigning his 
commission, for this would mean the severance of pleas- 
ant relations with his colonel. When Wolfe said good- 
bye to his comrade he gave him a pair of pistols as a 
remembrance. These are still treasured by descendants 
of the surgeon. 

From 1754 to 1769 Horatio Sharpe was Proprietary 
Governor of Maryland, and Dr. Scott was his companion 
and physician. The young surgeon was popular among 
the young people whom he met at Annapolis, the 
colonial capital. 

In 1760, when he persuaded Elizabeth Ross, the 
daughter of John Ross, the Register of the Land Office 
of Maryland, to become his bride, he built for her the 
stately house in Annapolis, Maryland, which is now 
occupied by the Sisters of Notre Dame. The new house, 
with its charming doorway and wonderful hall carvings, 
was well worth the attention even of one who had spent 
her girlhood at Belvoir, a quaint mansion of great 
beauty, six miles from Annapolis. 

Governor Sharpe was a welcome visitor at the Scott 
house until the time of his death in 1789, when he ap- 
pointed his friend, the owner, one of his executors. 
Governor Robert Eden, the last of the Proprietary Gov- 
ernors, who served from 1769 to 1774, was at times 
almost a member of the Scott household. 

Governor Eden was looked upon with favor by the 
patriots in Maryland because he was always moderate 
and advised the repeal of the tax on tea. In 1776 he 
went to England, but in 1784 he returned to Maryland 



222 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

to look after the estate of Mrs. Eden, who was Caroline 
Calvert, sister of Lord Baltimore; by the terms of the 
treaty of 1783 he was entitled to this property. While 
in Annapolis he was the guest of Dr. Scott. There, in 
the room now used by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a 
chapel, he died. 

But probably the most famous visitor to the Scott 
mansion was Francis Scott Key, who was the grandson 
of Mrs. Scott's sister, Ann Arnold Ross Key of Belvoir. 
When he was a boy he was often in Annapolis. His 
college training was received at St. John's in the old 
town, and in later life he frequently turned his steps 
to the house of his great-aunt and listened to the stories 
of Dr. Scott that helped to train him in the patriotism 
that was responsible, a few years later, for the composi- 
tion of the " Star-Spangled Banner." 

Many garbled stories have been told of the circum- 
stances that led to the writing of this song that has 
stirred the hearts of millions. The true story, and in 
many respects the simplest, was told by Key himself to 
his brother-in-law, R. R. Taney, who was later Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1865, when the 
" Poems of the Late Francis Scott Key, Esq., " w^re pub- 
lished, the volume contained the story as related by 
Judge Taney. 

In 1814, the main body of the British invaders passed 
through Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Many of the of- 
ficers made their h< adquarters at the home of Dr. Will- 
iam Beanes, a physician whom the whole town loved. 
When some of the stragglers from the army began to 
plunder the house, Dr. Beanes put himself at the head 
of a small body of citizens and pursued these stragglers. 
When the British officers heard of this. Dr. Beanes was 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 223 

seized and treated, not with kindness as a prisoner of 
war, but with great indignity. Key, as an intimate 
friend of the doctor, and a lawyer, was asked by the 
townsmen to intercede for the prisoner. When appli- 
cation was made to President Madison for help, he ar- 
ranged to send Key to the British fleet, under a flag 
of truce, on a government vessel, in company with John 
S. Skinner, a government agent. 

For a week or ten days no word came from the expe- 
dition. The people were alarmed for the safety of Key 
and his companion. 

The bearers of the flag of truce found the fleet at the 
mouth of the Potomac. They were received courteously 
until they told their business. The British commander 
spoke harshly of Dr. Beanes, but fortunately Mr. 
Skinner had letters from the British officers who had 
received kindness at the doctor's hands. General Ross 
finally agreed that, solely as a recognition of this kind- 
ness, the prisoner would be released. But he told the 
Americans that they could not leave the fleet for some 
days. They were therefore taken to the frigate Sur- 
prise, where they were under guard. They understood 
that an immediate attack on Baltimore was contem- 
plated, and that they were being restrained that they 
might not warn the city of the plans of the enemy. 

That night Fort McHenry was attacked. The Ad- 
miral had boasted that the works would be carried in 
a few hours, and that the city x'/ould then fall. So, 
from the deck of the Surprise, Key and his companion 
watched and listened anxiously all night. Every time a 
shell was fired, they waited breathlessly for the explo- 
sion they feared might follow. " While the bombard- 
ment continued, it was sufficient proof that the fort had 



224 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

not surrendered. But it suddenly ceased some time 
before day. . . . They paced tlie deck for the remainder 
of the night in fearful suspense. ... As soon as it 
dawned, and before it was light enough to see objects at 
a distance, their glances were turned to the fort, uncer- 
tain what they should see there, the Stars and Stripes, 
or the flag of the enemy. At length the light came, and 
they saw that ' our flag was still there.' '' 

A little later they saw the approach of boats loaded 
with wounded British soldiers. Then Key took an en- 
velope and wrote many of the lines of the song, and 
while he was on the boat that carried him to shore he 
completed the first rough draft. That night, at the 
hotel, he rewrote the poem. Next day he showed it to 
Judge Nicholson, who was so delighted with it that the 
author was encouraged to send it to a printer, by the 
hand of Captain Benjamin Eades. Captain Eades 
took the first handbill that came from the press and 
carried it to the old tavern next the Holliday Street 
Theatre. There the words were sung for the first time, 
to the tune " Anacreon in Heaven," the tune Key had 
indicated on his copy. 

Long before the author's death in 1843 the song had 
won its place in the affections of the people. He wTote 
many other poems, and some of them have become popu- 
lar hymns. At the memorial service conducted for him 
in Christ Church, Cincinnati, by his friend and former 
pastor, Rev. J. T. Brooke, the congregation was asked 
to sing Key's own hymn, beginning: 

" Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise thee, 
For the bliss thy love bestows; 
For the pardoning grace that saves me, 
And the peace that from it flows. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 225 

Help, Lord, my weak endeavor; 

This dull soul to rapture raise; 
Thou must light the flame, or never 

Can my love be warmed to praise." 

Dr. Scott, in whose Annapolis home Key had spent 
so many happy days, died in 1814, the year of the com- 
position of " The Star-Spangled Banner." Mrs. Scott 
lived until 1819. 

XLIX 

THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON 

THE BEGINNINGS OF WASHINGTON CITY, AND THE 
STORY OF THE HOME OF CONGRESS 

The selection of parts of Virginia and Maryland as 
the site of the Federal District in which the National 
Capital was to be located was made only after many 
years of discussion. 

In 1779 some of the members of Congress talked of 
buying a few^ square miles near Princeton, New Jersey, 
as a site for the government's permanent home. Four 
years later, the trustees of Kingston, New York, sought 
to interest Congress in that location. In 1783 An- 
napolis, Maryland, offered the State House and public 
circle to " the Honorable Congress " for their use. 
Burlington, New Jersey, also entered the lists, while 
in June, 1783, Virginia offered the town of Williams- 
burg to Congress and proposed to " present the palace, 
the capitol, and all the public buildings and 300 acres 
of land adjoining the said city, together with a sum 
of money not exceeding 100,000 pounds, this state cur- 



226 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

rency to be expended in erecting thirteen hotels for the 
use of the delegates in Congress." 

In October, 1784, Congress decided to place the cap- 
ital near Trenton, New Jersey. Later it was decided 
to have a second capital on the Potomac, Congress to 
alternate between the two locations. 

Neither Congress nor the country was satisfied with 
this solution of the difficulty. After years of discus- 
sion, in September, 1789, one house of Congress fixed 
on the Falls of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania as 
the permanent site. The Senate amended their pro- 
posal by suggesting Germantown, Pennsylvania. 

This action was reconsidered and a long dispute fol- 
lowed. Finally, in 1790, the site on the Potomac was 
selected, and Congress was ready to provide for the 
building of " a palace in the woods." 

President Washington and Vice-President Adams dis- 
agreed as to the location of the Capitol building. John 
Adams wished to see it the centre of a quadrangle of 
other public buildings, but Washington urged that Con- 
gress should meet in a building at a distance from the 
President's house and all other public buildings, that 
the lawmakers might not be annoyed by the executive 
officers. 

The invitation to architects to present plans for the 
Capitol was made in March, 1792, five hundred dollars 
being promised for the best plan. None of the sixteen 
designs submitted were approved. Later two men, 
Stephen L. Hallet and Dr. William Thornton, offered 
such good plans that it was not easy to decide between 
them. The difficulty was solved by acceptance of 
Thornton's design and the engagement of Hallet as 
supervising architect at a salary of two thousand dollars 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 227 

a year. This arrangement was not satisfactory; it be- 
came necessary to replace Hallet first by George Had- 
field, then by James Hoban, the architect of the White 
House. Under his charge the north wing was com- 
pleted in 1800. 

The proceeds from the sale of lots in the new city 
proved woefully inadequate for the expenses of the 
building. Congress authorized a loan of eight hundred 
thousand dollars, but this loan could not be disposed 
of until Maryland agreed to take two-thirds of the 
amount, on condition that the commissioners in charge 
of the work add their personal guarantee to the govern- 
ment's promise to pay. 

Congress was called to hold its first meeting in the 
Capitol north wing on November 17, 1800. A few 
months earlier the government archives had been moved 
l2_f?Qi3i New York. These were packed in ten or twelve 
boxes, and were shipped on a packet boat, by sea. 
The arrival of the vessel was greeted by the three 
thousand citizens of Washington, who rang bells, 
cheered, and fired an old cannon in celebration of the 
event. 

At that time the foundation for the dome had been 
laid, and the walls of the south wing had been begun. 
Later a temporary brick building was erected for the 
House, on a portion of the site of the south wing. The 
legislators called the building " The Oven.'' 

The south wing was completed under the guidance 
of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also reconstructed 
the north wing and connected the two wings by a 
wooden bridge. That the building was far from satis- 
factory is evident from an article in the National 
Intelligencer of December 2, 1813, which spoke with 



228 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

disgust of the wooden passageway as well as of the 
piles of debris on every hand. 

In less than a year after the printing of the criticism, 
conditions were far worse, for the British troops came 
to Washington on August 24, 1814. They piled furni- 
ture in the hall of the House, and set fire to it. The 
wooden bridge that connected the wings burned like 
tinder. In a little while nothing was left but the walls. 
" The appearance of the ruins was perfectly terrify- 
ing," Architect Latrobe wrote. 

Thus was fulfilled in a striking way the prophecy 
made by John Randolph when he pleaded with Congress 
not to make war on Great Britain, " All the causes 
urged for this war will be forgotten in your treaty of 
peace, and possibly this Capitol may be reduced to 
ashes." 

The<next session of Congress was held in the Union 
Pacific Hotel, but by December, 1815, there was ready 
a three-story building, erected by popular subscription, 
which Congress used for three years, paying for it an 
annual rental of |1,650. This was called " The Brick 
Capitol." 

Of course efforts were made to remove the Capital 
to another location, but Congress made appropriation 
for the reconstruction of the Capitol on the old site. 
Work was begun almost at once, and was continued 
until 1830, when the wings had been rebuilt as well as 
the rotunda and centre structure. In general appear- 
ance the building was the same as before the fire, but 
marble instead of sandstone was used for colonnades 
and staircases and floors. The beautiful capitals of the 
marble pillars were carved in Italy or prepared by 
workmen brought from Italy. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 229 

During the latter part of this period the rotunda 
was used for all sorts of exhibitions. Once a panorama 
of Paris was shown there, an admission fee of fifty 
cents being charged. Exhibits of manufactured goods 
were made in this " no man's land," over which nobody 
seemed to have jurisdiction. In 1827 a congressman 
spoke in the House of the fact that " triangles of steel 
to take the place of bells, stoves, stew pans, pianos, 
mouse traps, and watch ribbons were marked with 
prices and sundry good bargains were driven." The 
general public felt that they had a right even to the hall 
of the House; frequently popular meetings were held 
there. 

The present dome surmounting the rotunda is not the 
dome first planned. For Latrobe's dome, which he did 
not build, a higher dome was substituted by Bulfinch. 
The present dome is the w^ork of Thomas U. Walter, 
the designer of Girard College, Philadelphia, whose 
plans for the completion of the Capitol were approved 
in 1851. The burning of the western front of the centre 
building in December, 1851, proved a blessing in dis- 
guise, for Walter was able to rebuild the section in 
perfect harmony with the other portions. The House 
first occupied its present quarters on December 16, 
1857, but the Senate was not able to take possession 
of its new hall until January 4, 1859. 

The great structure was finished in 1865, work having 
been carried on throughout the Civil War. Though 
they knew that there would be delay in receiving pay- 
ment for their work, the contractors insisted on con- 
tinuing and completing what is one of the most har- 
monious public buildings in the world. 

The patriotic contractors had their reward, for the 



230 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

building was ready to receive the body of President 
Lincoln when, on April 19, 1865, after the services in 
the White House, the casket was placed on a catafalque 
under the dome of the rotunda, that the people of the 
country whose destinies he had guided through four 
years of civil war might gather there to do him honor. 



THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINTGON 

THE HOME OF EVERY PRESIDENT SINCE WASHINGTON 

When, in 1792, James Hoban suggested to the com- 
mission appointed to supervise the erection of public 
buildings at Washington that the Executive Mansion 
be modelled after the palace of the Duke of Leinster 
in Dublin, his proposition was accepted, and he was 
given a premium of five hundred dollars for the plan. 
More, he was engaged, at the same amount per year, 
to take charge of the builders. 

No time was lost in laying the corner stone. The 
ceremony was performed on October 13, 1792, and 
operations were pushed with such speed that the build- 
ing was completed ten years later ! 

In November, 1800, six months after the transfer of 
the government offices from Philadelphia to Washing- 
ton, Mrs. Adams joined President Adams at the White 
House. She had a hard time getting there. A few 
days after her arrival she wrote to her daughter: 

" I arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting 
any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 231 

when we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles 
on the Frederick road, bj which means we were obliged 
to go the other eight miles through woods, where we 
wandered for two hours, without finding a guide, or 
the path. Fortunately, a straggling black came up with 
us, and we engaged him as a guide to extricate us out 
of our difficulty ; but woods are all you see, from Balti- 
more until you reach the city, which is only so in name. 
Here and there is a small cot, without a glass window, 
interspersed amongst the forests, throiigh which you 
travel miles without seeing any human being. In the 
city there are buildings enough, if they were compact 
and furnished, to accommodate Congress and those at- 
tached to it ; but as they are, and scattered as they are, 
I see no great comfort for them." 

Mrs. Adams found no great comfort in the White 
House, either. " To assist us in this great castle," she 
wrote, " and render less attendance necessary, bells are 
wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through 
the whole house, and promises are all you can obtain. 
... If they will put me up some bells, and let me have 
wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased. . . . 
But, surrounded with forests, can you believe that wood 
is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut 
and cart it. . . . The house is made habitable, but there 
is not a single apartment finished. . . . We have not 
the least fence, yard, or other convenience, without, and 
the great, unfinished audience-room I make a drying 
room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs 
are not up, and will not be this winter." 

The building itself was in good condition, though the 
surroundings were far from prepossessing, when it was 
burned by the British in 1814. President and Mrs. 
Madison moved to the Octagon House, and spent more 



232 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

than a year in this comfortable winter home of Colonel 
John Tayloe. 

The cost of rebuilding and refurnishing the Execu- 
tive Mansion was about three hundred thousand dollars. 
The work was begun in 1814, and in September, 1817, 
the building was so far completed that President Monroe 
was able to take up his quarters there in some degree 
of comfort, though the floor in the East Room had not 
yet been laid and some of the walls were still without 
plastering. On January 1, 1818, the first New Year's 
reception was held there. " It was gratifying to be 
able to salute the President of the United States with 
the compliments of the season in his appropriate resi- 
dence," the National Intelligencer said. It may be 
added that the editor called the building " the Presi- 
dent's House." The title, " the White House," was 
not yet in common use. 

For many years the successive occupants of the build- 
ing were subject to all sorts of criticism. Mrs. Monroe 
refused both to make first calls and to return calls. 
President Monroe bought foreign-made furnishings! 
John Quincy Adams actually introduced a billiard table, 
and the use of public money to buy " a gaming table " 
was bitterly attacked! (Of course the purchase was 
made with personal funds. ) Mrs. Adams was cold and 
haughty ! When President Van Buren left Washington 
he took with him the gold spoons and the gilt dessert 
service that had attracted attention! But these were 
private property. 

However, most criticisms like these have been in- 
spired by pride in the President and his household, and 
a pardonable feeling of possession in them and the 
White House. 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 233 

Until witliin recent years the President's offices were 
in the east end of the White House. A pleasing de- 
scription of these offices has come down from Isaac N. 
Arnold, who thus spoke of the quarters of President 
Lincoln : 

" The furniture of the room consisted of a large oak 
table, covered with cloth extending north and south, 
and it was round this table that the Cabinet sat when 
it held its meetings. Near the end of the table and be- 
tween the windows was another table, on the west side 
of which the President sat, in a large arm-chair, and 
at this table he wrote. A tall desk, with pigeon holes 
for paper, stood against the south wall. The only books 
usually found in this room were the Bible, the United 
States Statutes, and a copy of Shakespeare. There 
were a few chairs and two plain hair-covered sofas. 
There were two or three map frames, from which hung 
military maps, on which the positions and movements 
of the armies were traced. There was an old and dis- 
colored engraving of General Jackson over the mantel 
and a later photograph of John Bright. Doors open 
into this room from the room of the secretary and from 
the outside hall, running east and west across the house. 
A bell-cord within reach of his hand extended to the 
secretary's office. A messenger sat at the door opening 
from the hall, and took in the cards and names of 
visitors." 

During the time of President Roosevelt, outside Ex- 
ecutive offices were built, and rooms that had long been 
needed for the personal uses of the President's house- 
hold were released. The change has increased patriotic 
pride in the White House, one of the simplest mansions 
provided for the rulers of the nations. 



234 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

LI 

THE OCTAGON HOUSE, WASHINGTON 
IN WHICH DOLLY MADISON LAVISHED HOSPITALITY IN 1814 

Jolin Tayloe, the wealthiest man in the Virginia of 
the late eighteenth century, had his summer home at 
Mt. Airy. His plantation, the largest in the State, was 
worked by more than five hundred slaves. 

When he wanted a winter home, he thought of build- 
ing at Philadelphia. But George Washington, eager to 
secure him as a resident of the young Federal City on 
the Potomac, asked him to consider the erection of a 
house there. So Mr. Tayloe made an investigation of 
Washington as a site for a residence, bought a lot for 
one thousand dollars, and in 1798 commissioned Dr. 
William Thornton to make the plans for a palatial 
house. During the construction of the building Wash- 
ington several times rode by and from the saddle in- 
spected the progress of the work. 

Thornton was at the time a well-known man, though 
he had been born in the West Indies and was for many 
years a resident there. After receiving his education 
in Europe, he lived for several years in the United 
States. During this period he was a partner of John 
Fitch in the building and trial of the steamboat that 
for a time ran successfully on the Delaware River, more 
than twenty years before Fulton built the Clermont. 
He was himself something of an inventor; he secured 
a number of patents for a device to move a vessel by 
applying steam to a wheel at the side of the hull. 




From the Monograph on the Octagon House, 
Issued by the American Institute of Architects 



THE STAIRWAY, OCTAGON HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C 




UPTON SCUTT HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, iMD 



i'Unin U,l M. M r.irl.r. AllJllllHilis 

See page 22L) 




OCTAGON HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Photo by Frank Cousins A>-t Compnnu 
from the Monograph on the Octagon House 
by the American Institute of Architects 

LtLSee page 234 



OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 235 

He had returned to the West Indies when he read 
that a prize was to be given for the best plan submitted 
for the Capitol to be built at Washington. At once 
he wrote for particulars, and in due time he presented 
his plans. He was then living in the United States. 
The plans were considered the best that had been of- 
fered. Jefferson said that they " captivated the eyes 
and judgment of all," while Washington spoke of their 
" grandeur, simplicity, and convenience." While these 
plans were later modified by others, certain features of 
the Capitol as it appears to-day are to be traced directly 
to Dr. Thornton's plans. 

At the time of the award he was but thirty-one years 
old, and had already won a place as a physician, an 
inventor, and a man of science. He was a friend of 
Benjamin Franklin, and had received the prize offered 
for the design for the new building of the Library 
Company of Philadelphia, in which Franklin was espe- 
cially interested. Later he was awarded a gold medal 
by the American Philosophical Society for a paper in 
which he outlined the method of the oral teaching of 
deaf and dumb children which is still in use in many 
institutions. 

The building planned by Dr. Thornton for Mr. Tay- 
loe, at the northeast corner of New York Avenue and 
Eighteenth Street, was completed in 1801. At the time 
it was the best house in Washington. At once, as the 
Octagon House, it became famous for the lavish hospi- 
tality of its owner. 

The next stirring period in the history of the Octagon 
House was the later years of the second war with Great 
Britain. On the night of August 24, 1814, when the 
British Army entered the city, the French minister, 



236 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

M. Serurier, looked from his window and saw soldiers 
bearing torches going toward the White House. 
Quickly he sent a messenger to General Ross and asked 
that his residence be spared. The messenger found 
General Ross in the Blue Room, where he was collect- 
ing furniture for a bonfire. Assured that " the king's 
house " would be respected, he returned to the minister. 

Dr. Thornton, who was at the time superintendent 
of the patent office, succeeded in persuading Colonel 
Jones to spare that building, on the ground that it was 
a museum of the Arts, and that its destruction would 
be a loss to all the world. 

Among the public buildings destroyed was the White 
House. Mr. Tayloe at once offered the Octagon House 
to President Madison. On September 9, 1814, the 
National Intelligencer announced, " The President will 
occupy Colonel Tayloe's large house, which was lately 
occupied by the French minister." For more than a 
year the house was known as the Executive Annex. 

Rufus Rockwell Wilson, in " Washington, the Capital 
City," tells how the mansion looked at this time: 

" Its circular entrance hall, marble tiled, was heated 
by two picturesque stoves placed in small recesses in 
the wall. Another hall beyond opened into a spacious 
and lovely garden surrounded by a high brick wall after 
the English fashion. To the right was a handsome 
drawing room with a fine mantel, before which Mrs. 
Madison was accustomed to stand to receive her guests. 
To the left was a dining-room of equal size and beauty. 
A circular room over the hall, with windows to the 
floor and a handsome fireplace, was President Madison's 
office. Here he received his Cabinet officers and other 
men of note, listening to their opinions and reports on 
the progress of the war; and here, also, on a quaintly 



OVEE THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 237 

carved table, he signed, February 18, 1815, the procla- 
mation of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the contest 
with England." 

The story of this table's history is interesting. From 
the Octagon House it went to John Ogle Ferneaux, of 
King George County, Virginia. He kept it until Octo- 
ber 30, 1897, when it was sold to Mrs. A. H. Voorhies, 
of 2011 California Street, San Francisco. When the 
fire that succeeded the earthquake of 1906 approached 
the house, the table was taken away hurriedly. Mrs. 
Voorhies says, " We wrapped sheets around the cir- 
cular part of the table, and in part of the journey, it 
went turning round as a wheel to a place of safety." 
The San Francisco chapter of the Institute of Archi- 
tects purchased it for |1,000, and sent it to Washing- 
ton, December 1, 1911. 

It is said that on the day the message came to the 
Octagon House that peace had been declared, Miss Sally 
Coles, who was Mrs. Madison's cousin, called from the 
head of the stairs, " Peace ! Peace ! " One who was a 
guest at the time gave a lively account of the scene in 
the house: 

" Late in the afternoon came thundering down Penn- 
sylvania Avenue a coach and four foaming steeds, in 
which was the bearer of the good news. Cheers fol- 
lowed the carriage as it sped on its way to the residence 
of the President. Soon after nightfall, members of 
Congress and others deeply interested in the event pre- 
sented themselves at the President's House, the doors 
of which stood open. When the writer of this entered 
the drawing room at about eight o'clock, it was crowded 
to its full capacity. Mrs. Madison — (the President be- 
ing with the Cabinet) — doing the honors of the occa- 
sion ; and what a happy scene it was ! " 



238 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Mr. Tayloe occupied the Octagon at intervals until 
his death in 1828. Mrs. Tayloe lived until 1855. By 
this time the neighborhood had changed, and the prop- 
erty deteriorated. In 1865 it was occupied as a girls' 
school. From 1866 to 1879 it was the hydrographic 
office of the Navy Department. Later it became a 
dwelling and studio. From 1885 to 1889 it was in the 
hands of a caretaker, and deteriorated rapidly. At the 
last eight or ten families of colored people lived within 
the storied walls. 

The Institute of American Architects leased the prop- 
erty in 1899 and later purchased the house for |30,000. 
It is now one of the sights of Washington. A tablet 
fixed to the wall relates the main facts of its history. 



SIX: HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE 
CAVALIERS 



I love the stately southern mansions ivith their tall white columns, 

They look through avenues of trees, over fields where the cotton is 
grotving; 

I can see the flutter of white frocks along their shady porches. 

Music and laughter float from the windows, the yards are full of hounds 
and horses. 

Long since the riders have ridden away, yet the houses have not for- 
gotten. 

They are proud of their name and place, and their doors are always 
open. 

For the thing they remember best is the pride of their ancient 
hospitality. 

Henby van Dyke. 



SIX: HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 

LII 

MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA 
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 

George Washington was twenty years old when he 
became the owner of the Mount Vernon estate on the 
Potomac, in accordance with the provisions of the will 
of Laurence Washington, his half-brother. At that 
time the house contained but eight rooms and an attic, 
four rooms on each floor. There were twenty-five hun- 
dred acres in the farm. 

As a boy Washington had tramped over every acre 
of the estate. When he was sixteen he made a plot 
of the region around Mt. Vernon. The original of the 
survey made at that time may be seen in the Library 
of Congress at Washington. 

The young owner looked forward to years of quiet 
on Ms estate, but he was frequently called away from 
home for service in the militia of Virginia. In spite 
of these absences, however, he managed to make the 
acres surrounding the mansion give a good account of 
themselves. 

When he responded to the call of the Colonies and 
became Commander-in-Chief of the army, he turned his 
back on Mt. Vernon with great reluctance, and for six 

241 



242 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

years hardly saw the place he loved. But when the 
independence of the Colonies had been won he returned 
home, in the hope that he might be permitted to remain 
there in obscurity, farming his land and entertaining 
his friends in the house on the Potomac. 

That he might have more room for his friends, he 
enlarged the house. On July 5, 1784, he wrote to his 
friend, William Rumney of Alexandria, asking him to 
inquire into the terms on which " a House Joiner and 
Bricklayer " might be engaged for two or three years. 
To the house, which dated from 1744, he made additions 
until it was three times as large as when he inherited 
the property. The alterations were completed in 1785. 
The completed house was ninety-six feet long, and thirty 
feet deep, with a piazza fifteen feet wide. The building 
material was wood, cut in imitation of stone. 

While these alterations w^ere in progress a visitor 
to Mt. Vernon was Charles Vardo, an Englishman. 
When he returned home he wrote an account of his visit, 
in which said: 

" I crossed the river from Maryland into Virginia, 
near to the renowned General Washington's, where I 
had the honor to spend some time, and was kindly 
entertained with that worthy family. As to the Gen- 
eral, if we may judge by the countenance, he is what 
the world says of him, a shrewd, good-natured, plain, 
humane man, about fifty-five years of age, and seems 
to wear well, being healthful and active, straight, well 
made, and about six feet high. He keeps a good table, 
which is always open to those of a genteel appear- 
ance. . . . 

" The General's house is rather warm, snug, con- 
venient and useful, than ornamental. The size is what 
ought to suit a man of about two or three thousand 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 243 

a year in England. The out-offices are good and seem 
to be not long built; and lie was making more offices at 
each wing to the front of the house, which added more 
to ornament than to real use. The situation is high, 
and commands a beautiful prospect of the river which 
parts Virginia and Maryland, but in other respects the 
situation seems to be out of the world, being chiefly 
surrounded by woods, and far from any great road or 
thoroughfare. . . . The General's lady is a hearty, 
comely, discreet, affable woman, some few years older 
than himself. . . . The General's house is open to poor 
travellers as well as rich, he gives diet and lodging to 
all that come that way, which indeed cannot be many, 
without they go out of their way on purpose. ..." 

A visitor of January 19, 1785, was Elkanah Watson. 
In his diary Washington wrote simply that Mr. Watson 
came in and stayed all night; and that he went away 
after breakfast next morning. But Mr. Watson had 
a fuller account to give: 

" I found him at table with Mrs. Washington and his 
private family, and was received in the native dignity 
and with that urbanity so peculiarly combined in the 
character of a soldier and eminent private gentleman. 
He soon put me at ease. . . . The first evening I spent 
under the wing of his hospitality, we sat a full hour 
at table by ourselves, without the least interruption, 
after the family had retired. I was extremely oppressed 
by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted by 
the exposure of a harsh winter journey. He pressed 
me to use some remedies, but I declined doing so. As 
usual after retiring, my coughing increased. When 
some time had elapsed, the door of my room was gently 
opened, and on drawing my bed-curtains, to my utter 
astonishment, I beheld Washington himself, standing 
at my bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand." 



2U HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The following May Rev. Thomas Coke and Bishop 
Francis Asbury were welcomed to Mt. Vernon. " The 
General's seat is very elegant," Mr. Coke wrote. " He 
is quite the plain, country-Gentleman." After dinner 
the visitors presented to their host a petition for the 
emancipation of the Negroes, " entreating his signa- 
ture, if the eminence of his station did not render it 
inexpedient for him to sign any petition." Washing- 
ton told his guests that he was " of their sentiments, 
and had signified his thoughts on the subject to most 
of the great men of the State; that he did not see it 
proper to sign the petition, but if the Assembly took 
it into consideration, would signify his sentiments to 
the Assembly by a letter." 

An attractive picture of the General was given by 
Richard Henry Lee after a visit to Mt. Vernon in 
November, 1785: 

" When I was first introduced to him he was neatly 
dressed in a plain blue coat, white Casimer waistcoat, 
and black breeches and Boots, as he came from his 
farm. After having sat with us some time he retired. 
. . . Later he came in again, with his hair neatly pow- 
dered, a clean shirt on, a new plain drab Coat, white 
waistcoat and white silk stockings." 

John Hunter, who was with Colonel Lee, added his 
impression : 

" The style of his house is very elegant, something 
like the Prince de Conde's at Chantilly, near Paris, only 
not quite so large ; but it's a pity he did not build a new 
one at once, as it has cost him nearly as much a repair- 
ing his old one. . . . It's astonishing what a number 
of small houses the General has upon his Estate for 




® %ii 



I I II hum um 




^^mjjmjmmjjjgmil 



MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA, REAR VIEW 



Photo by E. C. Hall 
8pp page 241 




ARLI\GTf)N, VIKiaXIA 



Photo by H. P. Cook 
Sec page 24G 




Photo by H. P. Cook 



CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 



See page 249 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 245 

his different Workmen and Negroes to live in. He has 
everything within himself — Carpenters, Bricklayers, 
Brewers, Blacksmiths, Bakers, etc., etc., and even has 
a well assorted store for the use of his family and 
servants." 

.While the repairs were still in progress, the ship 
Mary arrived at Alexandria, having a consignment for 
Washington from Samuel Vaughan, a great admirer 
in London. This was a chimney-piece, wrought in Italy 
from pure white and sienite marble, for the use of Mr. 
Vaughan. When the mantel reached England the 
owner learned of the improvements then in progress at 
Mt. Vernon. Without unpacking the mantel he sent it 
on to America. When Washington received word of the 
arrival of the gift, he wrote, " By the number of cases, 
however, I greatly fear it is too elegant and costly for 
my room and republican style of living." Nevertheless 
the mantel was installed in the mansion and became a 
great delight to the household. 

Washington's days at Mt. Vernon were interrupted 
by the renewed call of his country. For much of the 
time for eight years he was compelled to be absent, and 
when, at length, the opportunity came to resume the 
free life on his estate, he had less than three years left. 
But these years were crowded full of hospitality in the 
mansion and of joyous work on the estate, and when, 
on December 14, 1799, he died as a result of a cold 
caught while riding on the estate, he left it to his 
" dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington." 

For many years Mt. Vernon continued its hospitable 
career. Then came years of neglect, when the mansion 
was falling into ruins. But in 1853-56 Miss Ann 
Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina appealed to the 



246 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

women of the nation, and succeeded in organizing an 
association that took over the estate, restored it to its 
original condition, furnished it with Washington relics 
gathered from far and near, and opened it for the visits 
of the reverent visitors to the city of Washington, who 
continue their journey sixteen miles down the Potomac 
that they may look on the scene that brought joy to 
the heart of the Father of his Country. 



LIII 

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 

FROM WHICH ROBERT E. LEE WENT TO BATTLE FOR 
THE SOUTH 

After the death of George Washington the Mt. Vernon 
family was gradually broken up, one after another going 
elsewhere for a home. George Washington Parke Cus- 
tis, Washington's adopted son, and grandson of Martha 
Washington, decided to build a home on a hill over- 
looking the Potomac, opposite Washington City. There 
were eleven hundred acres in the estate of which Arling- 
ton, the mansion he built in 1802, was the central 
feature. 

It has been said that the stately house is an adapta- 
tion of the Doric temple at Paestum, near Naples. The 
roof of the great portico rests on eight massive columns. 
The rooms within are of a size in keeping with the 
magnificent portal. 

Perhaps the plan was too ambitious for the Custis 
fortune. At any rate the rooms on the south side of 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 247 

the hall were not completed. But it was a famous 
liouse, nevertheless. Guests were many. They de- 
lighted to look from the portico across the Potomac to 
Washington, where they could see the government build- 
ings slowly taking shape. 

One of the favored guests was Robert E. Lee. His 
frequent visits led to his marriage, in 1831, to Mr. 
Custis' daughter. At this time Lee was a lieutenant 
in the United States Army. Mrs. Lee remained at 
Arlington, waiting for the husband whose military 
duties enabled him to spend only brief seasons with 
her and the growing family there. 

During the years before the war visitors to the Cap- 
ital City thronged to Arlington. Some, of them were 
interested in the many Washington relics in the house. 
Chief among these was the bed on which Washington 
died. Others came to the picnic grounds at Arlington 
Spring, which Mr. Custis had opened for the pleasure 
of the people, building for the use of all comers a great 
dining-hall, a dancing pavilion, and a kitchen. 

One of these visitors told his impressions of Arling- 
ton: 

" In front of the mansion, sloping toward the Poto- 
mac, is a fine park of two hundred acres, dotted with 
groves of oak and chestnut and clumps of evergreens; 
and behind it is a dark old forest, with patriarchal 
trees bearing many centennial honors, and covering six 
hundred acres of hill and dale. Through a portion of 
this is a sinuous avenue leading up to the mansion.'' 

At the time of the secession of Virginia, Robert E. 
Lee was a colonel. Duty seemed clear to him. It was 
not easy for him to take up arms against the United 



248 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

States Government, but he considered himself first of 
all a citizen of his native State. To respond to the call 
of the Confederacy meant ruin. His beautiful home, he 
feared, would be destroyed. But he did not hesitate. 
A desire to retain possession of his slaves had nothing 
to do with his decision. His own slaves had already 
been freed, and provision had been made in the will 
of Mrs. Lee's father that all his slaves should be freed 
in 1862. 

When, in 1865, General Lee was urged to prolong the 
conflict by guerilla warfare, he said : " No, that would 
not do. It must be remembered that we are Christian 
people. We have fought the fight as long and as well 
as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a 
Christian people there is but one course to pursue. We 
must accept the situation. These men must go home and 
plant a crop, and we must proceed to build up our 
country on a new basis.'' 

But he could not return to Arlington. The govern- 
ment had taken possession of the estate for a National 
Cemetery. For a time he lived in obscurity on a little 
farm. Then he became President of Washington Col- 
lege, later Washington and Lee University. With his 
family he lived on the campus at Lexington, Virginia, 
and there he died, October 12, 1870. 

In the meantime the National Cemetery at Arlington 
was becoming a pilgrimage point for patriotic Ameri- 
cans. The slopes of the beautiful lawn were covered 
with graves. The stately white mansion, with its eight 
great pillars and its walls of stucco seemed a fitting 
background for the ranks of little white tombstones. 

For years the title to the property was in dispute. 
In 1864 the United States bought it for |26,800, when it 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 249 

was sold at auction for delinquent taxes. In 1882 the 
Supreme Court decided that G. W. C. Lee, son of Gen- 
eral Lee, was entitled to the property, and the following 
year the government paid him $150,000 for eleven hun- 
dred acres, including the mansion. 



LIV 

CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 

WHERE WASHINGTON HAD A PEW " AT THE UPPER PART 
OF THE CHURCH" 

George Washington was chosen one of the vestrymen 
of Fairfax parish in 1764, when this was formed by the 
division of Truro parish, although he was already a 
vestryman in Pohick Church at Truro. 

The records of the new parish show that in 1766 it 
was decided to build Christ Church at Alexandria, and 
a second church at the Falls of the Potomac instead of 
the old church there. The members of the parish were 
asked to pay thirty-one thousand pounds of tobacco for 
the purpose of construction. 

James Wren, the architect of Christ Church, is said 
to have been a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren. 
While the building was well designed, no one ever 
thought of it as a masterpiece. But it has answered the 
purposes of the worshipper for more than a century and 
a half, and it promises to last at least a hundred and 
fifty years more. 

The original contract called for the expenditure of 
£600. Colonel John Carlisle, who was bondsman for 



250 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

the contractor, James Parsons, in 1772, agreed to com- 
plete the building on payment of £220 additional, since 
Parsons failed to fulfil his agreement. 

The church was built of brick, and was sixty by fifty 
feet long. The work was carefully done, but the struc- 
ture was ready for the vestry to take possession early 
in 1773. 

At the first sale of pews, of which there were fifty 
in all, Washington paid £36 10 s. for pew number five. 
He had already made a generous gift toward the build- 
ing fund, but asked the privilege of giving the brass 
chandelier which still hangs from the ceiling. 

When the Church and State were separated in Vir- 
ginia, after the Revolution, Washington subscribed five 
pounds a year to the rector's salary. By act of the legis- 
lature the glebe lands of churches in the State were 
confiscated, but, through the influence of Washington 
and Charles Lee, Christ Church " and one other " (prob- 
ably Falls Church) were allowed to retain their lands. 

Many changes have been made in the building. The 
gallery was added in 1787, that twenty-five pews might 
be provided for the growing congregation. The west 
aisle was built in 1811, and the next year the chimneys 
were built, for stoves were placed in the church at 
that time. The bell was hung in 1816. The pews were 
later divided, including that which Washington occu- 
pied, but this pew has since been restored to its original 
condition. Since 1891 the high pulpit and sounding 
board have been replaced as they were at first. 

Washington's diary tells of his attendance at service 
on Sunday, June 2, 1799. Perhaps it was of this Sun- 
day a visitor to Alexandria wrote in a letter to a friend, 
which was quoted in " The Religious Opinions and Char- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 251 

acter of George Washington," published in 183G. The 
writer said : 

" In the summer of 1799 I was in Alexandria on a 
visit to the family of Mr. H. . , . Whilst there, I ex- 
pressed a wish to see General Washington, as I had 
never enjoyed that pleasure. My friend . . . observed : 
' You will certainly see him on Sunday, as he is never 
absent from church when he can get there; and as he 
often dines with us, we will ask him on that day, when 
you. will have a better opportunity of seeing him.' Ac- 
cordingly, we all repaired to church on Sunday. . . . 
General Washington . . . walked to his pew, at the 
upper part of the church, and demeaned himself through- 
out the service of the day with that gravity and pro- 
priety becoming the place and his own high character. 
After the services were concluded, we waited for him 
at the door, for his pew being near the pulpit he was 
among the last that came out — when Mrs. H. invited 
him to dine with us. He declined, however, the invita- 
tion, observing, as he looked at the sky, that he thought 
there were appearances of a thunderstorm in the after- 
noon, and he believed he would return home to dinner." 



LV 



THE MARY WASHINGTON HOUSE, FREDERICKS- 
BURG, VIRGINIA 

WHERE WASHINGTON'S MOTHER SPENT HER LAST YEARS 

The first property mentioned in connection with the 
name of Mary Ball, who became the mother of George 
Washington, was on the tract of four hundred acres '^ in 
ye freshes of Rappa-h-n River," bequeathed to her in her 



252 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

father's will before she was six years old. Her father, 
Colonel Joseph Ball of Epping Forest, Lancaster 
County, thought he was about to die, but he lived some 
years longer. 

Ten years later an unknown writer spoke of Mary 
Ball in pleasing terms : 

" WmsBurg, y*" 7th of Ocf, 1722. 
" Dear Sukey, Madam Ball of Lancaster and her 
sweet Molly have gone Hom. Mama thinks Molly the 
Comliest Maiden She Knows. She is about 16 yrs old, 
is taller than Me, is verry Sensable, Modest and Loving. 
Her Hair is like unto Flax, Her Eyes are the color of 
Yours, and her Chekes are like May blossoms. I wish 
You could see Her." 

This " Belle of the Northern Neck," as she came to be 
called, continued her conquests of young and old until, 
at twenty-two, an orphan, she left Epping Forest to live 
with her brother, Joseph Ball, at " Stratford-by-bow, 
Nigh London." There, on March 6, 1730, she became 
the second wife of Augustine Washington, the second 
son of Laurence Washington, who was visiting England 
at the time. 

Less than two years later, at Wakefield, on the Poto- 
mac, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Wash- 
ington was born. He was not three years old when the 
mansion was burned. 

The new home was at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, 
on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg. 
For eight years the family circle was unbroken, but 
on April 12, 1743, Augustine Washington died. Lau- 
rence Washington, Mary Washington's stepson, then be- 
came the owner of Mt. Vernon, while to George Wash- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 253 

ington was bequeathed Pine Grove, though the estate 
was to be managed by Mrs. Washington until the son 
became twenty-one. 

With wonderful skill Mrs. Washington directed the 
plantation and with firm purpose she devoted herself to 
the care of her five fatherless children. 

A picture of this capable woman at this period was 
recorded by Laurence Washington, a nephew of George 
Washington's father. He wrote: 

" I was often there [at Pine Grove] with George, his 
playmate, schoolmate, and young man's companion. Of 
the mother, I was more afraid than of my own parents ; 
she awed me in the midst of her kindness; and even 
now, when time has whitened my locks and I am the 
grandfather of a second generation, I could not behold 
that majestic woman without feelings it is impossible 
to describe." 

The death, in 1752, of Laurence Washington of Mt. 
Vernon made George Washington the owner of that 
property. Thereafter the twenty-five hundred acre 
estate became known as the home of the eldest son, while 
Mrs. Washington remained at Pine Grove with her 
younger children. 

Only a few months later he stopped to see his mother, 
as he was on his way to the West to carry out a com- 
mission laid upon him by Governor Dinwiddle. As 
Mrs. Washington bade her son good-bye, she urged him 
to " remember that God only is our sure trust." Then 
she added, " To Him I commend you." 

Her words were remembered. In 1755, when General 
Braddock asked Colonel Washington to accompany him 
to Fort Pitt, Mrs. Washington hurried to Mt. Vernon 



254 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

and urged him not to go. He considered lier objections, 
but said: 

" The God to whom you commended me, madam, when 
I set out on a more perilous errand, defended me from 
all harm, and I trust He will do so now; do you? " 

One by one the children left Pine Grove. In 1750 
Betty Washington was married to Colonel Fielding 
Lewis, who built for her the stately house Kenmore, not 
far from her mother's home, but across the river, on 
the edge of Fredericksburg. This house is still among 
the show places of the old town. 

In the early days of the Revolution Colonel and Mrs. 
Lewis tried to persuade Mrs. Washington that she was 
getting too old to live alone at Pine Grove, and urged 
her to make her home at Kenmore. At the same time 
Colonel Lewis offered to take over the management of 
the plantation. To both entreaties she turned a deaf 
ear ; she said she felt entirely competent to take care of 
herself, and she would manage her own farm. 

However, she consented to make her home in a house 
purchased for her in Fredericksburg, because " George 
thought it best." The dutiful son had time to help in 
the flitting to the new home before he hurried to the 
North. He was not to see her again for seven long 
years. 

A member of the family described later the days of 
waiting when Mary Washington directed her household 
iu the preparation of clothes, provisions, and other com- 
forts for the General and his associates : '"' During the 
trying years when her son was leading the Continental 
forces, the mother was watching and praying, following 
him with anxious eyes,'' the story is told. " But to the 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 255 

messenger who brought tidings, whether of victor}' or 
defeat, she turned a calm face, whatever tremor of feel- 
ing it might mask, and to her daughter she said, chiding 
her for undue excitement, ' The sister of the command- 
ing general should be an example of fortitude and 
faith.' " 

It was November 11, 1781, when the victorious com- 
mander next saw Fredericksburg, on his way to Phila- 
delphia from Yorktown. George Washington Parke 
Custis has described the meeting with his mother : 

" She was alone, her aged hands employed in the 
works of domestic industry, when the goocl news was an- 
nounced, and it was told that the victor was awaiting 
at the threshold. She bade him welcome by a warm 
embrace, and by the well-remembered and endearing 
name of George. . . . She inquired as to his health, for 
she marked the lines which mighty cares and toils had 
made in his manh^ countenance, and she spoke much of 
old times and old friends, but of his glory not one 
word." 

When the Peace Ball was given in Fredericksburg 
she was an honored guest. Her son walked with her 
into the gaily decorated ballroom. She remained for a 
time, but after a while, from the seat where she had 
watched the dance, she called him to her side. When 
she was near she said, " Come, George, it is time for old 
folks to be at home." 

Lafayette visited Fredericksburg in 1784, that he 
might pay his respects to Mrs. Washington. He found 
her in her garden, dressed in a short linsey skirt, work- 
ing among her flowers. After his visit he declared, " I 
have seen the only Roman matron living at this day." 

She still went frequently to her plantation across the 



256 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

river, but as she became more feeble lier son gave her 
a phaeton in which she could cross the ferry in comfort. 
Her great-granddaughter has written of her appearance 
when she rolled in the phaeton down the village street: 

" In summer she wore a dark straw hat with broad 
brim and low crown, tied under her chin with black 
ribbon strings; but in winter a warm hood was substi- 
tuted, and she was wrapped in the purple cloth cloak 
lined with silk shang (a present from her son George) 
that is described in the bequests of her will. In her 
hand she carried her gold-headed cane, which feeble 
health now rendered necessary as a support." 

One of the last visits paid by George Washington to 
his mother was on March 7, 1789. A Fredericksburg 
paper of March 12 said, " The object of his Excellency's 
visit was probably to take leave of his aged mother, 
sister, and friends, previous to his departure for the new 
Congress, over the councils of which, the united voice of 
America has called him to preside." On March 11 
Washington's account book shows that the expenses of 
the trip were £1.8.0, He also noted that he advanced to 
his mother at the time " 6 Guineas." 

At New York, on September 1, 1789, President Wash- 
ington was dining with friends when a messenger 
brought word of the death of Mrs. Washington. The 
notice of her death, as given in the Gazette of the United 
States, on September 9, read : 

" Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 27, 1789 — On 
Tuesday, the 25th inst. died at her home in this town, 
Mrs. Mary Washington, aged 83 years, the venerable 
mother of the illustrious President of the United States, 
after a long and painful indisposition, which she bore 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 257 

with uncommon patience. Though a pious tear of duty, 
affection, and esteem is due to the memory of so revered 
a character, yet our grief must be greatly alleviated from 
the consideration that she is relieved from the pitiable 
infirmities attendant on an extreme old age. — It is usual 
when virtuous and conspicuous persons quit this terres- 
trial abode, to publish an elaborate panegyric on their 
characters — sufftce it to say, she conducted herself 
through this transitory life with virtue, prudence, and 
Christianity, worthy the mother of the grandest Hero 
that ever adorned the annals of history." 

"0 may kind heaven, propitious to our fate, 
Extend THAT HERO'S to her lengthen 'd date; 
Through the long period, healthy, active, sage ; 
Nor know the sad infirmities of age. ' ' 

The house in Fredericksburg which was occupied after 
1775 by Mrs. Washington, is now the property of 
the Association for the Preservation of Virginian 
Antiquities. 



LVI 

GREENWAY AND SHERWOOD FOREST, 
VIRGINIA 

TWO OF THE HOMES OF JOHN TYLER 

A little girl was responsible for the fact that John 
Tyler, who became the tenth president of the United 
States, was born, not at Marlie, but at Greenway. 
Marlie was the name chosen by Judge John Tyler for 
his James River estate, but his young daughter, Anne 



258 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Contesse, as soon as she began to talk, insisted on call- 
ing it " Greenway," " because the grass grows so green 
there." 

The fact that Anne's name displaced that chosen by 
her father is an indication of his great love for chil- 
dren. Greenway was " a bird's nest full of young," but 
at various times he added to his own flock one or another 
of twenty-one children, of whom he was made guardian, 
all of whom he guided through childhood to earnest man- 
hood and womanhood. 

These children must have enjoyed roaming about the 
estate, for, according to Judge Tyler's description, it 
was a delightful place. He said of it : 

" Greenway contains five hundred acres, well im- 
proved. On it is a genteel, well-furnished dwelling- 
house, containing six rooms, all wainscoted, chair-board 
high, with fine dry cellars the full length of the house, 
which is 56 feet; also every other building which a 
reasonable person could wish or desire, to wit : a hand- 
some study, storehouse, kitchen, laundry, dairy, meat- 
house, spring-house, and an ice-house within the cur- 
telage ; a barn 40 by 34 feet, two granaries, two carriage 
houses, 20 stalls for horses, a quarter for house servants ; 
a handsome pigeon-house, well stocked; and several 
other houses for slaves; a well of water (so excellent 
that I can drink with delight after returning from a 
mountain circuit), a large, fertile garden, abounding 
with a great variety of shrubs, herbs, and beautiful 
flowers, well enclosed. The buildings new and well cov- 
ered with shingles." 

On this attractive estate John Tyler was born on 
March 29, 1790. He was a slender, delicate-looking lad, 
but he was not afraid to stand up for himself when he 
felt he was being abused. His first schoolmaster, a 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 259 

Mr. McMurdo, who taught across the road from Green- 
way, thought that it was impossible to teach well unless 
the rod was in daily use. " It was a wonder that he did 
not whip all the sense out of his scholars," John said 
once, years later. But one day the boys rebelled. 
" John and some of the larger boys tripped him up, 
and began to tie his hands and feet," the Tyler family 
biographer tells the story. " McMurdo scuflSed bravely, 
but upon little William Tyler, the smallest boy in school, 
throwing himself upon him, he exclaimed, in imitation 
of the great Roman, ' Et tu, Brute! ' and ceased to resist. 
The boys firmly secured him, locked him up in the 
schoolhouse, and left with cheers of triumph and 
derision." 

Hours later the schoolmaster was released by a pass- 
ing traveller, who heard his cries. At once the enraged 
man hastened to Judge Tyler and told his story. " But 
the Judge, born and bred in the Revolutionary school, 
hated tyranny in any shape, and as he drew himself up 
to his full stature, he . . . replied, in the language of 
Virginia's motto, ' Sic Semper Ti/rminis." '^ 

At the age of twelve John entered the grammar school 
of William and Mary College at Williamsburg. There 
he had a good time, and he made a creditable showing in 
his classes. Yet that he did not advance in at least one 
study is evident from a letter written by his father in 
1807. He said : 

" I can't help telling you how much I am mortified to 
find no improvement in your handwriting; neither do 
you construct your lines straight, which makes your 
letters look too abominable. It is an easy thing to 
correct this fault, and unless you do so, how can you 
be fit for law business? " 



260 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Some years later, when Judge Tyler was Governor 
of Virginia, he announced impressively to John that 
Thomas Jefferson would be among the dinner guests on 
a certain day. " Be sure you have a good dinner," the 
Governor added ; for John was at the time in charge of 
the establishment. The future President asked himself, 
" What is the best thing for dinner? " " Plum pud- 
ding ! " was the answer. 

The appointed time came. The company was seated 
at table. The first course was served. Then came a 
long wait. 

" Suddenly a door flew open, and a negro servant 
appeared, bearing, with both hands raised high above 
his head, a smoking dish of plum pudding. Making a 
grand flourish, the servant deposited it before Governor 
Tyler. Scarcely had he withdrawn before another door 
flew open, and an attendant, dressed exactly like the 
first, was seen bringing another plum pudding, equally 
hot, which at a grave nod from John, he placed before 
Mr. Jefferson. The Governor, who expected a little 
more variety, turned to his son, who sat surveying the 
puddings with tender interest, and exclaimed, in accents 
of astonishment, ' Two plum puddings, John, two plum 
puddings ! Why, this is rather extraordinary ! ' ' Yes, 
sir,' said the enterprising major domo, ' it is extraor- 
dinary ; but ' (and here he rose and bowed deferentially 
to Mr. Jefferson) 'it is an extraordinary occasion.' " 

In 1813, John Tyler married Letitia Christian. 
They did not make their home at Greenway, however. 
On the death of Judge Tyler the old house was sold, but 
it became the property of John Tyler in 1821. There 
he retired for the season of rest which he sorely needed 
after his strenuous years as a member of the House of 
Delegates, and Representative in Congress. During the 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 261 

intervals of his service as Governor and United States 
Senator lie resided at the old home, but in 1829 he sold 
the property, and removed to Gloucester County, to an 
estate which he took for debt. Eighteen years later, at 
the close of his presidential term, he returned, with his 
bride, the second Mrs. Tyler, to the county where he 
was born, having bought an estate of twelve hundred 
acres, three miles from Greenway, on the north side of 
the James, opposite Brandon. He tore down the old 
house on the estate, and built a house on the same plan, 
which, with its connected out-buildings, was more than 
two hundred feet long. He called his place " Sherwood 
Forest," with grim humor; for was he not an outlaw, 
in the opinion of the Whigs, just as really as was Eobin 
Hood? 

Not long after the beginning of life at Sherwood 
Forest he was appointed overseer of the road on which 
his estate was located. Some claimed that this appoint- 
ment w^as secured by the Whigs to humiliate him. But 
he refused to be humiliated. Instead he determined to 
be a good overseer and make the road the best in the 
State. All the men in the township were called, and 
they were kept at work day after day, as, according to 
law, he had a right to keep them. But it was harvest 
time, and the wheat was dead ripe. " The smiles that 
lately illuminated the countenances of the Whigs turned 
to dismay. The august justice who had made the ap- 
pointment repaired to Mr. Tyler's house, and repre- 
sented to him the state of things. Mr. Tyler replied that 
the law made it his duty to put the road in good order, 
and to keep it so. The Whigs expostulated. Mr. Tyler 
was firm. Then the justice begged him to resign, and 
let the hands go home. The ex-President said, ' Offices 



2G2 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

are hard to obtain in these times, and having no assur- 
ance that I can ever get another, I cannot think, under 
the circumstances, of resigning.' " 

One of the statesman's valued companions during 
these early years at Sherwood Forest was " General," 
the old horse which he had owned for many years. At 
length the horse died, and was buried in the grave at 
Sherwood Forest. On a wooden slab at the head of the 
grave the owner wrote : 

" Here lieth the bones of my old horse, General, who 
served his master faithfully for twenty-seven years, and 
never blundered but once — would that his master could 
say the same ! " 

The last years of John Tyler's life witnessed the re- 
turn of his popularity. Enemies became friends, and all 
rejoiced to do him honor. He was called to a number 
of honorable posts, and he was about to take his seat 
as a member of the House of Representatives of the Con- 
federate Congress when he died, in Richmond, on Jan- 
uary 18, 1862. 



LVII 

TWO HISTORIC COURTHOUSES OF VIRGINIA 

OLD DOMINION COUNTY BUILDINGS AT HANOVER AND 
WILLIAMSBURG 

A momentous announcement appeared in the Will- 
iamsburg, Virginia, Gazette on March 16, 1769 : 

" The Common Hall having this day determined to 
build a commodious brick court-house in this city and 




\ I ,"1 w \ 



>Ml\i.|ii\ > llol M'., FREDERICKSBURG, VA. 



/.,'/ //. P. Ciiol- 
Soc page 2.")1 




HAXOVEK <Ulin' llDlSi:. \1K>,,1.\1A 



Ph„l„ In, 11. P. Coul: 
S(>o pagp 2(52 




ST. JOHN S CHUKCH, KICHMOND, VA. 



Photo by H. P. Cook 
See page 266 




NELSON HorSE, YORKTOWN, VA. 



Photo by H. P. Cook 
See page 270 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 263 

Imving appointed us to agree with and undertake to 
build the same, we do hereby give notice that we shall 
meet at Mr. Hay's (the Raleigh Tavern) on Tuesday, 
the 4th of April, to let the building thereof ; we are also 
appointed to dispose of the present court-house, and the 
ground on which the same stands. James Cock, John 
Carter, James Carter, John Tazewell." 

The building displaced by the new structure was 
erected in 1716 by William Levington, and was given 
to the city in 1745 by " the Gentlemen subscribers for 
the Play House." 

The stone steps on the new building, which are still 
in use, were brought from England in 1772. A copy 
of the letter in which William Wilson acknowledged 
their receipt is in a letter book preserved in the library 
of the Episcopal Seminary, near Alexandria. 

During the Revolution, the patriots were called to- 
gether, from time to time, by the bell in the picturesque 
tower. It was fitting, then, that when American inde- 
pendence was celebrated at Williamsburg, on May 1, 
1783, the Courthouse was made the rallying place for 
the people. On receipt of official notice from Governor 
Benjamin Harrison that the treaty of peace had been 
signed, the mayor of Williamsburg prepared an " Order 
of the Procession on the Great Day," which closed with 
the following direction : 

" The Citizens to be Conveyed on Thursday, at 1 
o'clock at the Court-House by a Bellman. 

"After the convention of citizens they are to make 
proclamation at the C: House, after which the Bells 
at the Church, College, & Capitol are to ring in peal. 

" From the C* House the Citizens are to proceed to 
the College, and make proclamation at that place, from 
whence they are to proceed to the Capitol and make 



264 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

proclamation there and from thence Proceed to the 
Raleigh (Tavern) & pass the rest of the day." 

A frequent visitor to the Williamsburg Courthouse 
was the brilliant lawyer Patrick Henry, whose reputa- 
tion as an orator was made long before he delivered his 
" Give me Liberty or Give me Death " speech at St. 
John's Church, Richmond. 

Some years before the Williamsburg Courthouse was 
erected, this orator made his first public speech, at Han- 
over Courthouse, a building that dates from 1735, in 
the celebrated suit of the clergy demanding the payment 
of their stipends in tobacco, according to law. In con- 
sequence of a short crop the price had increased, and 
they insisted that it was their right to have the advan- 
tage of the increase. Their case had been tried once 
and won. The attorney of the people thereupon with- 
drew, and Henry was engaged to appear for them in 
court. 

When the case was called, Rev. Patrick Henry was 
present, to the regret of his nephew. The lawyer sought 
his uncle and said that he feared he would be too much 
overawed by his presence to do his duty to his clients, 
and added that he would be compelled to say some 
" very hard things of the clergy." The minister there- 
upon entered his carriage, and drove away. 

William Wirt describes the scene at the opening of 
the case: 

" On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the 
most learned men in the Colony, and the most capable, 
as well as the severest critics before whom it was pos- 
sible for him to have made his d^but. The Court House 
was crowded with an overwhelming multitude, and sur- 
rounded with an immense and anxious throng, who, not 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 265 

finding room to enter, were endeavoring to listen with- 
out, in the deepest attention. But tliere was something 
still more awfully disconcerting than all this ; for in the 
chair of the presiding magistrate, sat no other person 
than his own father. . . . 

" And now came on the first trial of Patrick Henry's 
strength. No one had ever heard him speak, and curi- 
osity was on tiptoe. He rose very awkwardly, and fal- 
tered much in his exordium. The people hung their 
heads at so unpromising a commencement; the clergy 
were observed to exchange sly looks with each other, and 
the father is described as having almost sunk with con- 
fusion, from his seat. But these feelings were of short 
duration, and soon gave place to others, of a very dif- 
ferent character. . . . The spirit of his genius awakened 
all his features. . . . His action became graceful, bold, 
and commanding ; and in the tones of his voice, but more 
especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, 
a magic, of which any one who ever heard him will 
speak as soon as he is n?.med, but of which no one can 
give any adequate description. . . . 

" The people, whose countenances had fallen as he 
arose, had heard but very few sentences before they 
began to look up; then to look at each other with sur- 
prise, as if doubting the evidence of their own senses. 
... In less than twenty minutes, they might be seen in 
every part of the house, on every bench, in every window, 
stooping forward from their stands, in deathlike si- 
lence. . . . The mockery of the clergy was soon turned 
into alarm; their triumph into confusion and despair; 
and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invec- 
tive, they fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. 
As for the father, such was his surprise, such his amaze- 
ment, such his rapture, that, forgetting where he was, 
and the character which he was filling, tears of ecstasy 
streamed down his cheeks without the power or inclina- 
tion to restrain them." 

The case was won. As soon as the verdict was an- 



266 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

nounced the people seized tlie orator at the bar and bore 
him out of the courthouse. Then, raising him on their 
shoulders, they carried him about the yard. 



LVIII 

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND 

WHERE PATRICK HENRY SAID, " GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR 
GIVE ME DEATH" 

In 1611 Sir Thomas Dale founded his town of Henri- 
copolis, the second established settlement in Virginia. 
It was named in honor of Prince Henry, the eldest son 
of James I. A church was soon after built. The 
bounds of Henrico parish, to which it belonged, were 
quite large until 1634, when the parish was made to 
include the present Chesterfield, Powhatan, and Gooch- 
land counties. 

Soon after the marriage of Pocahontas she moved to 
the plantation of her husband, John Rolfe, near Henri- 
copolis, and they were both members of Henrico parish 
until they left Virginia. 

The written records of Henrico parish begin with 
1730. At that time the principal church of the parish 
was on Curie's plantation, on the north side of the 
James, some miles below the present city of Richmond. 
Curie's church disappeared during the Civil War. The 
bowl of the baptismal font in St. John's Church, Rich- 
mond, is a relic of the old church. This was removed 
from the cellar of a house where it had been in use for 
beating hominy. 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 267 

Steps were taken in 1737 to build the present St. 
John's Church, because of the increase of population in 
Richmond. The first action was recorded as follows : 

" At a Vestry held at Curls Church for Henrico parish 
ye 8th day of October Anno Dom. 1737 for laying ye 
parish Levey — 

" The Vestry do agree to build a Church on the most 
convenient place at or near Thomas Williamsons in this 
parish to be Sixty feet in Length and Twenty-five in 
Breadth and fourteen feet pitch to be finished in a plain 
Manner After the Moddle of Curls Church. And it is 
ordered that the Clerk do Set up Advertisements of the 
particular parts of the Said Building and of the time 
and place of undertaking the Same. . . . It is ordered 
that the Collector do receive of every Tithable person 
in this parish five pounds of Tobacco after the Usual 
deduction to be apply'd towards building the New 
Church at Williamsons." 

At a later meeting the location and the dimensions of 
the church were changed. Richmond was decided on, 
and it was stated that " Richard Randolph Gent under- 
takes the Said Building and engages to finish the Same 
by the Tenth day of June, which Shall be in the year of 
our Lord 1741 ; for which the Vestry agrees to pay him 
the Sum of £317 10s. Current Money to be paid by the 
amount of the Sale of Twenty thousand pounds of Tob'o 
Annually to be Levyd on the parish and Sold here for 
Money till the whole payment be compleat." 

There is no record of the completion of the building, 
but probably it was finished at the appointed time. 
Since that date various additions have been made, yet 
it is possible to trace the lines of the original structure. 
The original pews are still in use, though they have been 
lowered. The hinges of the pew doors are handwrought. 



268 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The wainscoting and the window sashes are those first 
put in. The original weather-boarding is still in place. 
It is fastened by nails whose heads are half an inch 
broad. 

For the new church there were imported from Eng- 
land: 

" One Parsons Surples, a Pulpit Cushen and Cloth, 
two cloths for Reading Desks, a Communion Table 
Cloth, and a Dozen of Cushens — to be of good Purple 
Cloth, and the Surples good Hollond, also Large Bible 
and four large Prayer Books." 

An entry in the vestry book on December 17, 1773, 
shows that the rector, Mr. Selden, received as salary 
17,150 pounds of tobacco, worth £125. The clerk of the 
parish received 1,789 pounds of tobacco, or £13 10s., the 
sexton had 536 pounds, or £3.10s.7d. 

Selden was chaplain of the Virginia Convention which 
met in the church March 20, 1775. At the closing ses- 
sion of this convention Patrick Henry " flashed the elec- 
tric spark, which exploded the country in revolution," 
as Burton says in his history of Henrico Parish. This 
was the speech that closed : 

" Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no 
peace. The war is actually begun ! The next gale that 
sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash 
of resounding arms ! Our brethren are already in the 
field! Why stand here idle? What is it that gentle- 
men wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or 
peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery? Forbid it. Almighty God. I know not 
what course others may take, but as for me, Give me 
liberty, or give me death." 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 269 

Dr. Burton says that the orator " stood, according to 
tradition, near the present corner of the east transept 
and the nave, or more exactly, in pew 47, in the east 
aisle of the nave. ... He faced the eastern wall of the 
transept, where were the two windows. In the more 
northern of these stood Colonel Edward Carrington. 
He broke the silence that followed the orator's burning 
words with the exclamation, ' Right here I wish to be 
buried ! ' " 

When the British took possession of Richmond in 
1781, St. John's Church became a barracks for Arnold's 
men. And some of them stood on the spot where 
Patrick Henry spoke the words that had such large part 
in stirring up the people to drive all British soldiers 
from the Colonies. 

After the close of the war the diocese of Virginia was 
reorganized in the building, and plans were laid to over- 
come the difficulties that would soon come through the 
loss of the property of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
which led Edmund Randolph, later Governor of Vir- 
ginia and Secretary of State in Washington's Cabinet, to 
speak the famous words : 

" Of what is the Church now possessed? Nothing but 
the glebes and your affections." 

That the affections of the people are a better depend- 
ence than rich endowments in money has been shown 
by the later history of the church, the parish, and the 
diocese. 



270 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



LIX 

THE NELSON HOUSE AND THE MOORE HOUSE, 
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA 

MADE MEMOKABLE BY THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN AND THE 
SURRENDER OF CORNVVALLIS 

One day in 1740 a baby a little more than one year 
old, whose name was Thomas Nelson, stood by the side 
of his father, William Nelson, as the father was about 
to lay the foundation of his new home in York, Virginia. 
The babe had been stationed there that the brick for the 
corner might be placed in the little hands ; then it could 
be said in later years that the babe had helped in the 
exercises of the day. The little fellow became a Signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, a General in the 
Revolutionary War, and Governor of Virginia. 

William Nelson was a merchant, who had invested his 
savings in land and had become quite wealthy. When 
his son was fourteen years old he was able to send him 
to Cambridge, England, to be educated. Nine years 
later the young man married Lucy Grymes of Brandon, 
and took up his residence in the house whose foundation 
he had helped to lay. 

For many years the home of the young people was 
noted for the hospitality shown there. Whenever the 
owner could leave his guests, he rode to his plantation 
near town. He kept a pack of hounds, which were fre- 
quently employed in fox hunting. 

When discontent against England became pro- 
nounced, he was a leader of the patriots. He was a 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 271 

member of the House of Burgesses of 1774 which was 
dissolved by Lord Dunmore because of the passage of a 
resolution against the Boston Port Bill, and he was one 
of the eighty-nine men who met next day at a tavern and 
took action that led to the first Continental Congress. 

On July 17, when the Convention of Virginia dele- 
gates gathered in Richmond decided to raise three regi- 
ments for home defence, Patrick Henry was named as 
commander of the first while Nelson was put in charge 
of the second. 

He was among the patriots who sat in the Continental 
Congress of 1775, 177G, and 1777, and his name was 
signed to the Declaration of Independence. On August 
16, 1777, he retired from public service because of failing 
health, but when, a little later, the Governor of Virginia, 
fearing the approach of the British fleet, asked him to 
serve as brigadier general and commander-in-chief of the 
forces of the State, he agreed, on condition that he be 
excused from accepting payment for his services. 

During the siege of Yorktown he was at the head of 
the militia. The sketch of his life as given by Sander- 
son in the " Biography of the Signers," says : " During 
the siege, observing his own house uninjured by the artil- 
lery of the American batteries he inquired the cause. A 
respect for his property, was assigned. Nelson . . . 
requested that the artillerists would not spare his house 
more than any other, especially as he knew it to be occu- 
pied by the principal officers of the British Army. Two 
pieces were accordingly pointed against it. The first 
shot went through the house and killed two ... of- 
ficers. . . . Other balls soon dislodged the hostile 
tenants." It is said that Nelson gave ten guineas 
reward to the man who fired the first shot. 



272 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Again Thomas Nelson responded to the call of his 
State when in June, 1781, he became Governor, succeed- 
ing Thomas Jefferson. Four months after the begin- 
ning of his term as chief executive of the State, George 
Washington, in general orders, said: 

" The General would be guilty of the highest ingrati- 
tude, a crime of which he hopes he shall never be 
accused, if he forgot to return his sincere acknowledg- 
ments to his excellency governor Nelson, for the suc- 
cours which he received from him and the militia under 
his command, to whose activity, emulation, and bravery, 
the highest praises are due. The magnitude of the 
acquisition will be ample compensation for the diffi- 
culties and dangers which they met with so much firm- 
ness and patriotism." 

Nelson's term as Governor was shortened by ill health. 
In November, 1781, he was compelled to resign. 

But he was not permitted to rest. Attacks were made 
on him for certain courses taken during his term as 
Governor. When he asked and was given permission to 
defend himself before the State delegates, he was tri- 
umphantly acquitted of all blame. On December 31, 
1781, this action was recorded : 

"An act to indemnify Thomas Nelson, Junior, 
Esquire, late governor of this commonwealth, and to 
legalize certain acts of his administration. Whereas, 
upon examination, it appears that previous to and dur- 
ing the siege of York, Thomas Nelson, Esquire, late gov- 
ernor of this commonwealth, was compelled by the pe- 
culiar circumstances of the state and army, to perform 
many acts of government without the advice of the coun- 
cil of state, for the purpose of procuring subsistence for 
the allied army under the command of his excellency 
general Washington ; be it enacted that all such acts of 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 273 

government, evidently productive of general good, and 
warranted by necessity, be judged and held of the same 
validity, and the like proceedings be had on them as if 
they had been executed by and with the advice of the 
council, and with all the formality prescribed by law. 
And be it enacted that the said Thomas Nelson, jr., 
Esquire, be and he hereby is in the fullest manner in- 
demnified and exonerated from all penalties and dangers 
which might have accrued to him from the same." 

Nelson lived more than seven years after this act 
approving his emergency actions. But three years were 
spent in comparative poverty. Most of his property was 
sold to satisfy the debts incurred by paying two regi- 
ments out of his own pocket, and by going security, with 
the State, for two million dollars needed to carry on the 
war. Sanderson says of these acts of generosity : 

" He had spent a princely fortune in his country's 
service; his horses had been taken from the plough, and 
sent to drag the munitions of war; his granaries had 
been thrown open to a starving soldiery, and his ample 
purse had been drained to its last dollar, when the credit 
of Virginia could not bring a sixpence into her treasury. 
Yet it was the widow of this man who, beyond eighty 
years of age, blind, infirm, and poor, had yet to learn 
whether republics can be grateful." 

On the simple gravestone in Yorktown, erected to the 
memory of the patriot, is this eloquent inscription : 

Thomas Nelson, 

Governor of Virginia. 

He Gave All for Liberty. 

Not far from the grave is another historic house that 
should be named with the Nelson house. This is the 



274 HISTORIC SHEINES OF AMERICA 

Moore house, on Temple farm, then less than a mile from 
Yorktown. In this house, which was built in 1713, the 
terms of the surrender of Cornwallis were drawn up. 
It was once the summer home of the colonial governor, 
Alexander Spottswood. 



LX 



THE JOHN MARSHALL HOUSE, RICHMOND, 
VIRGINIA 

""where the chief justice cared for his wife and 
entertained his friends 

An old book, " Richmond in By Gone Days," says that 
John Marshall was noted in Richmond for his unpre- 
tending manner. " His dress was plain even to negli- 
gence. He marketed for himself and might be seen at 
an early hour returning home with a pair of fowls, or 
a basket of eggs in his hand, not with ostentatious hu- 
mility, but for mere convenience." 

It is related by Flanders that Marshall " was one 
morning strolling through the streets of Richmond, at- 
tired in a plain linen roundabout and shorts, with his 
hat under his arm, from which he was eating cherries, 
when he stopped in the porch of the Eagle Hotel, in- 
dulged in some little pleasantry with the landlord, and 
then passed on." Just then a man from the country, 
who wished a lawyer to appear for him in court, was 
referred by the landlord to Marshall, as the best advo- 
cate he could have, but the countryman declined to have 
anything to do with the careless young man. In court 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 275 

lie asked the clerk for a lawyer, and was once more 
recommended to take John Marshall. Again he re- 
fused. Just then a dignified old man in powdered wig 
and black coat entered. He was at once engaged, on 
his appearance. After a time the inferiority of the 
black-coated lawyer was so apparent that the country- 
man sought Marshall, told him of the mistake he had 
made, said that he had left but five dollars of the one 
hundred dollars he had set aside for lawyers' fees, and 
asked Marshall if he would assist on the case. The 
lawyer laughingly agreed. 

In 1781, when Marshall was twenty-five years old, he 
walked from Virginia to Philadelphia, to be inoculated 
for smallpox. " He walked at the rate of thirty-five 
miles a day. On his arrival, such was his shabby ap- 
pearance, that he was refused admission into one of 
the hotels ; his long beard, and worn-out garments, prob- 
ably suggesting the idea that his purse was not adequate 
to his entertainment. And this in the city which had 
seen much of the young man's heroic services during the 
Revolution ! " 

Before the close of the war, while visiting his father, 
Colonel Marshall, who was the commanding officer at 
Yorktown, Virginia, he met Mary Willis Ambler, a 
daughter of Jacqueline Ambler, the treasurer of Vir- 
ginia. " She was just fourteen years of age at the time, 
and it is stated to have been a case of love at first sight." 
Even when Marshall called to see her he was not prepos- 
sessing in appearance, yet he was well rceived, " not- 
withstanding his slouched hat, and negligent and awk- 
ward dress," for his amiable manners, fine talents, and 
especially his love for poetry, which he read to them 
with deep pathos, led them to forget his dress. 



276 HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 

The young people were married on January 3, 1783. 
After paying the fee of the minister, the groom's sole 
remaining fortune was a guinea! 

Mrs. Marshall was for many years a nervous invalid. 
Bishop Meade says, " The least noise was sometimes 
agony to her whole frame, and his perpetual endeavor 
was to keep the house and yard and out-houses from the 
slightest cause of distressing her; walking himself at 
times about the house and yard without shoes." The 
attitude of the people of Richmond to the husband and 
wife is shown by the fact that " on one occasion, when 
she was in her most distressing state, the town authori- 
ties manifested their great respect for him and sympathy 
for her, by having either the town clock or town bell 
muffled." 

On his marriage John Marshall took his wife to one 
of the best houses then available in the village of Rich- 
mond, a two-room frame building. In 1789 he bought 
two acres of ground on Shockoe Hill, and here, in 1793, 
he built a nine-room brick house. One of the rooms was 
a large apartment, in which he gave his famous " law- 
yer dinners." 

When Marshall was not in Washington, he lived in 
this comfortable house, which was near the home of his 
father-in-law. He had also a farm a few miles from 
Richmond. Bishop Meade says that one morning, be- 
tween daybreak and sunrise, he met Marshall on horse- 
back. He had a bag of clover seed lying before him, 
which he was carrying to his farm. 

An English traveller who spent a week in Richmond 
in 1835 gave his impression of the Richmond home: 

" The house is small, and more humble in appearance 
than those of the average of successful lawyers and mer- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 277 

chants. I called there three times upon him; there is 
no bell to the door. Once I turned the handle of it and 
walked in unannounced; on the other two occasions he 
had seen me coming, and had lifted the latch and re- 
ceived me at the door, although he was at the time suf- 
fering from severe contusions received in the stage while 
travelling on the road from Fredericksburg to Rich- 
mond." 

Chief Justice Marshall frequently attended the Monu- 
mental Church. The narrow pews troubled him, for he 
was quite tall. " Not finding room enough for his whole 
body within the pew, he used to take his seat nearest the 
door of his pew, and, throwing it open, let his legs 
stretch a little into the aisle." 

The death of his wife was a great grief to him. 
" Never can I cease to feel the loss and to deplore it," 
he wrote on December 25, 1832, the anniversary of her 
death. " Grief for her is too sacred ever to be profaned 
on this day, which shall be, during my existence, marked 
by a recollection of her virtues." 

He survived Mrs. Marshall less than five years. In 
June, 1835, he went to Dr. Physic in Philadelphia, seek- 
ing relief for a disability that had been aggravated by 
the road accident of which the English visitor wrote, as 
already quoted. There he died, July 6, 1835. On July 
4 he wrote the inscription which he wished placed above 
his grave : 

" John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, 
was born on the 24th of September, 1755, intermarried 
with Mary Willis Ambler the 3rd of January, 1783, de- 
parted this life the day of 18 ." 

The Marshall house is now in possession of the Society 
for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, having 



278 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

been purchased a few years ago from the Misses Harvie, 
the granddaughters of Chief Justice Marshall. They 
had lived in the house until they sold it to the city of 
Richmond. 



LXI 

FIVE OLD HOUSES OF TIDEWATER, VIRGINIA 

SABINE HALL, WESTOVER, SHIRLEY, BRANDON, AND 
CARTER'S GROVE 

The five houses mentioned briejfly in this chapter are 
noteworthy, not only because of their beauty, but be- 
cause the stories of those who lived in them show how 
the leading families of old Virginia intermarried until 
the various relationships became a puzzle that delights 
the genealogist. 

On the Rappahannock, in Richmond County, Vir- 
ginia, Landon Carter, son of Robert ("King") Carter, 
the ancestor of the Carter family of Virginia, built 
Sabine Hall in 1730. He was a great lover of the works 
of Horace, and it was quite natural that he should adopt 
for his mansion the name of the Roman poet's Sabine 
Farm. 

Until his death in 1778 he was a recognized leader in 
both Church and State. Robert A. Lancaster quotes an 
unnamed writer who says that he was " a high-minded 
public servant and a finished scholar, indulging a taste 
for science and a love for letters," and was considered 
" one of the most notable of the pre-Revolutionary states- 
men of the Colony," and was " looked up to by the 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 279 

younger generation as a Nestor among his compatriots." 
He was a friend of Washington, and received many let- 
ters from him, some of which have been preserved. 

Landon Carter's second wife was Maria Byrd, of 
Westover. Her portrait, as well as those of the other 
two wives, the husband and " King " Carter, are hanging 
to-day on the walls of Sabine Hall. The estate of four 
thousand acres descended to his son by his third mar- 
riage with Elizabeth Beale, Robert Wormeley Carter, 
who was a member of the Virginia Assembly, The 
property is still in the possession of the descendants of 
the original owner. 

Westover, where Landon Carter courted Maria Byrd, 
is on the James in Charles City County, not far south of 
Sabine Hall. The mansion was built in the same year 
as Sabine Hall, 1730, by William Byrd, II, whose father 
came from England about 1674. 

V/illiam Byrd, of Westover, was famous as a literary 
man and as a statesman. At one time he was President 
of His Majesty's Council. But perhaps his greatest 
fame came to him because he was the father of Evelyn 
Byrd, who was a reigning belle. When, at the age of 
eighteen, she was presented at Court, it was reported 
that the king of England complimented her by saying 
he was glad Virginia could produce such " beautiful 
Byrds." 

Evelyn's brother, William Byrd, III, was the heir of 
the estate. He married Elizabeth Hill Carter, of Shir- 
ley, a neighboring estate. He was a member of the 
Virginia Council and attained distinction by his service 
as a colonel in the French and Indian War. 

During the siege of Yorktown some of the French of- 
ficers made frequent visits to Westover. One of them, 



280 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Marquis de Chastellux, said that this was the most beau- 
tiful place in America. 

Two armies have halted at Westover. In April, 1781, 
Cornwallis passed that way, and, during the Civil War 
McClellan's army camped on the grounds. A war-time 
picture shows something of the havoc wrought by the 
soldiers. 

When Elizabeth Hill Carter, of Shirley, came to West- 
over, she gave up one beautiful home for another. Her 
father's Charles City County mansion was probably 
built late in the seventeenth century, though the exact 
date is not known. One of the estate's claims to distinc- 
tion is that it has never been offered for sale. Colonel 
Edward Hill, the builder, Colonel Edward Hill, II, his 
son, and Colonel Edward Hill, III, his grandson, were 
leaders in the life of the county. At the death of 
Colonel Hill, III, his sister, Elizabeth Hill, became heir 
to the estate. She married John Carter, of Corotoman, 
son of Robert ( " King " ) Carter, who was Secretary of 
the Colony. It was his daughter who married William 
Byrd, III, of Westover. Her brother, Charles Carter, 
who was a patriot of prominence, was the father-in-law 
of Light Horse Harry Lee, and the grandfather of Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee. 

Carter's Grove, another seat of the Carter family, is 
also on the James, in Charles City County, not far from 
Shirley. The builder was Carter Burwell, and the house 
dates from 1751. The w^ork was done by slaves, under 
the direction of a foreman who received £140 for his 
work. In the construction of the house 25,000 feet of 
lumber, 40,000 shingles, 15,000 laths, and 460,000 bricks 
were used. The tottil cost was only £500. 

Carter Burwell was the son of Elizabeth, daughter of 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 281 

Eobert ("King") Carter, who married Colonel Na- 
thaniel Burwell. 

Across the James, in Prince George County, is Bran- 
don, whose builder was Nathaniel Harrison. The 
house dates from early in the eighteenth century. His 
son, also Nathaniel Harrison, married, as his second 
wife, Lucy the daughter of Robert (" King'') Carter of 
Corotoman. Benjamin Harrison, the son by the first 
wife, Mary Digges, married Evelyn Taylor Byrd, of 
Westover, When she went to Brandon she took with 
her the Byrd portraits, which are to-day one of the at- 
tractions of the mansion. 

Brandon has always been in the possession of descend- 
ants of the original owner. 



LXII 
GUNSTON HALL, VIRGINIA 

THE HOME OF GEORGE MASON, " THE PEN OF THE 
REVOLUTION IN VIRGINIA" 

Four miles from Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac, is 
the well-preserved mansion, Gunston Hall, built in 1758 
by George Mason, the great-grandson of George Mason, 
who fled to America after the Battle of Worcester, w^here 
he was in arms against the king of England. The first 
mention of the name of this George Mason occurs in the 
Virginia patent of land which he secured in March, 1655. 

George Washington and George Mason were not only 
near neighbors, but they were warm friends. Fre- 



282 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

qiiently Washington drove to Gunston Hall for a talk 
with Mason; or sometimes he floated down the stream 
in his four-oared gig, manned by his own slaves. Some- 
times the men roamed together through the woods or 
the fields; on one of these walks they sought to define 
the boundaries between their estates. 

Gifts of various kinds passed back and forth be- 
tween the two manors; one day in 1785, when Mason 
was driven from Mt. Vernon in Washington's carriage, 
he sent back b}^ the driver some young shoots of the Per- 
sian jessamine and Guelder rose. 

A few days later a hogshead of cider was broached at 
Gunston Hall, and a liberal sample was sent to Wash- 
ington. A note dated " 9th November, 1785," addressed 
to Washington, begins, " The bearer waits on you with 
a side of venison (the first we have killed this season), 
which I beg your acceptance of." 

At one time both Washington and Mason were mem- 
bers of the vestry of Truro parish. Washington's list 
of the vestrymen shows that his friend was elected by 
two hundred and eighty-two votes, while he himself re- 
ceived but fifty-one votes. 

Mason was as often at Mt. Vernon as Washington was 
at Gunston Hall. After a visit made on Christmas Day, 
1783, one of the other guests. Miss Lewis, of Fredericks- 
burg, wrote: 

" Among the most notable of the callers was Mr. 
George Mason, of Gunston Hall, who was on his way 
home from Alexandria, and who brought a charming 
granddaughter with him. . . . He is said to be one 
of the greatest statesmen and wisest men in Virginia. 
We had heard much of him and were delighted to look 
in his face, hear him speak, and take his hand, which he 







WESTOVER ON THE JAMES, VIR< 



// /■ ( .-„/,■ 
Sec |)age 278 




GU-NSTU.N HALL (J.N THE i'(n'lJ.\LVC, VUiUl.NLV 



PItuto bu H. P. Cook 
See page 281 




WASHINGTON COLLEGE BUILDING, LEXINGTON, VA. 



PlwU> hi, I'll. H. IVnIlace 
See page 285 




BRUTON PARISH CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG, VA. 



/'/,„/„ /,,/ // P. Cook 
See page 288 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 283 

offered in a courtly manner. He is slight in figure, but 
not tall, and has a grand head and clear gray eyes." 

To the home of George Mason other men of note 
delighted to come. In the guest room Jefferson and 
Richard Henry Lee, as well as Washington, slept more 
than once. Patrick Henry, too, was a welcome visitor 
at Gunston Hall. George Mason had as high an opin- 
ion of the orator as Patrick Henry had of the states- 
man. " He is by far the most powerful speaker I ever 
heard," Mason once said of Henry ; " every word he 
says not only engages but commands the attention ; and 
your passions are no longer your own when he addresses 
them. But his eloquence is the smallest part of his 
merit. He is in my opinion the first man upon this con- 
tinent, as well in abilities as public virtues, and had he 
lived in Rome about the time of the first Punic War, 
when the Roman people had arrived at their meridian 
glory and their virtue not tarnished, Mr. Henry's talents 
must have put him at the head of that glorious common- 
wealth." 

The orator returned the compliment by calling Mason 
one of the two greatest statesmen he ever knew. 

George Mason's statesmanlike vision was seen in 
1766, when he warned the British public of the results 
that would follow coercion. " Three millions of people 
driven to desperation are not an object of contempt," he 
wrote. Again he proved a good prophet when he wrote 
to George Washington, on April 2, 1776, after the Gen- 
eral took possession of Boston : 

" I congratulate you most heartily upon this glorious 
and important event — an event which will render George 
Washington's name immortal in the annals of America, 



284 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

endear his memory to the latest posterity, and entitle 
him to those thanks which heaven appointed as the re- 
ward of public virtue." 

Mason was of a retiring disposition, and he would 
have preferred to remain at home. But he was forced 
into the councils of the Virginia Convention, and during 
his service there he prepared the marvellous Bill of 
Rights which was later made a part of the Constitution 
of that State and was the model for similar documents 
in many other States. He was also the author of the 
Constitution of Virginia, and the designer of the State 
seal. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion in Philadelphia, where he proved himself " the 
champion of the State and the author of the doctrine 
of State Rights." Because the Constitution as finally 
drafted by the convention contained so many provisions 
that he felt were dangerous, he refused to sign the docu- 
ment, " declaring that he would sooner chop off his 
right hand than put it to the Constitution " whose pro- 
visions he could not approve. 

After the Constitutional Convention for more than 
four years the statesman lived quietly at Gunston Hall. 
When he died in October, 1792, he asked to be buried by 
the side of his first wife, whose death in 1773 had been 
a grievous blow to him. Over her tomb he had in- 
scribed : 

' * Once She was all that cheers and sweetens Life ; 
The tender Mother, Daughter, Friend and Wife : 
Once She was all that makes Mankind adore ; 
Now view the Marble, and be vain no more." 

No monument was ever raised over his own grave. A 
grandson planned to set a stone inscribed to " The 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 285 

Author of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of 
Virginia," but he was unable to do as he wished. 

Gunston Hall still stands, though it has passed 
through many hands since the death of him whom 
George Esten Cooke called " one of the most remarkable 
men, not only of his Country, and of his epoch, but of 
all Countries and all time." 



LXIII 

THE WASHINGTON COLLEGE BUILDING, 
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 

HOW GEORGE WASHINGTON SOLVED A DELICATE PROBLEM 

Even before the treaty of peace with Great Britain 
was signed, George Washington was making plans for 
the development of the West. He was especially im- 
pressed with the possibilities of the Potomac and James 
rivers, if improved by canals, as a means of communi- 
cation with the Ohio. Companies were organized to the 
work. In both enterprises he was a stockholder. On 
August 13, 1785, he wrote to Edmund Randolph : 

" The great object for the accomplishment of which 
I wish to see the inland navigation of the River Poto- 
mack and James improved and extended is to connect 
the western territory with the Atlantic states. ... I 
have already subscribed five shares to the Potomack 
navigation ; and enclosed I give you a power to put my 
name down for five shares to that of James River." 

In 1785 Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, wrote 
to Washington that the General Assembly of the State 



286 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

had voted to give him one hundred shares in the James 
River Company, " it being their wish, in particular, that 
those great works of improvement, which, both as 
springing from the liberty which he has been so instru- 
mental in establishing, and as encouraged by his patron- 
age, will be durable monuments of his glory, may be 
made monuments also of the gratitude of his country." 

Washington replied that he could not accept money 
for his services to his country. Then he added : " But 
if it should please the General Assembly to permit me to 
turn the destination of the fund vested in me, from my 
private emolument, to objects of a public nature, it will 
be my study in selecting these to prove the sincerity of 
my gratitude for the honor conferred on me, by pre- 
ferring such as may appear most subservient to the en- 
lightened and patriotic views of the legislature." 

Of course the legislature granted the desired permis- 
sion, indicating that the gifts might be made either dur- 
ing Washington's life, or by bequest. 

Some years passed before W^ashington fixed on a 
proper recipient for the canal shares. In 1798, how- 
ever, he gave them to the trustees of Liberty Academy, 
at Lexington, Virginia, which had been incorporated in 
1782. In recognition of the gift the trustees asked the 
legislature to change the name of the school to Wash- 
ington Academy. In 1813 the name was once more 
changed to Washington College. 

This, the first large gift received by the institution, is 
still yielding an income of three thousand dollars. Dur- 
ing many times of crisis the income provided in this way 
has been of signal use to the institution, notably in 
1824, when the Washington College building was begun. 
This structure is two hundred and fifty feet long, is built 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 287 

of brick, and each of its three porticoes is supported by 
white colonial columns. 

For more than seventy-five years after Washington 
turned over the canal shares, the institution's sole en- 
dowment amounted to only about one hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars. The seventy thousand dollars 
added to the canal shares came from sources that were 
influenced by Washington's confidence in the institution. 

The beginning of the larger life of the college was 
the election of General Robert E. Lee as president. The 
keynote of his five years of service was sounded in the 
letter which he wrote to the trustees on receiving noti- 
fication of his election. He feared that, in view of his 
military history, he might cause harm to the college. 
He was never greater than when he said : 

" I think it is the duty of every citizen, in the present 
condition of the country, to do all in his power to aid 
in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no 
way to oppose the policy of the State or General Gov- 
ernment directed to that object. It is particularly in- 
cumbent upon those charged with the instruction of the 
young to set them an example of submission to au- 
thority, and I would not consent to be the cause of 
animadversion on the College." 

Following the death of General Lee, which came after 
five years of remarkable development under his leader- 
ship, the name of Washington College was changed to 
Washington and Lee University, that it might continue 
forever a memorial to its two greatest benefactors. 



288 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



LXIV 

BRUTON PARISH CHURCH, WILLIAMSBURG, 
VIRGINIA 

" THE COURT CHURCH OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA » 

Jamestown was the capital of Virginia until 1699. 
Then Williamsburg became the seat of government. Six 
years earlier the latter town had taken on some im- 
portance because of the founding there of William and 
Mary College, and for more than sixty years efforts had 
been made to persuade the people to make their homes 
in the place. The records of the Colony show that in 
1632 rewards were offered to those who would locate 
in what seemed a promising situation for a town. 

The date of the building of the first church in Will- 
iamsburg is not known. The first entry in the vestry 
book of Bruton parish was made in April, 1674, but the 
parish dates from 1658. In that year Harrop and 
Middle Plantation parishes were united, though the new 1 
parish was not called Bruton for some time. The name 
was given because Sir James Ludwell, who afterward 
left a legacy of twenty pounds to the parish, was born 
in Bruton, England. 

A building (that it was not the first is shown by the 
mention in the records of the Old Church) was com- 
pleted in 1683, and the first service was held on January 
6, 1684. The cost was "£150 sterling and sixty thou- 
sand pounds of good sound, marketable sweet, scented 
Tobacco." The minister, " Mr. Rowland Jones," was 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 289 

" paid annually y^ sum of sixteen thousand, six hundred 
and sixty pounds of Tobacco and Oaske." 

The removal of the capital to Williamsburg brought 
so many new people to town that the church became too 
small for the congregation. In 1701 the parish records 
show that there was talk of a new building. 

On October 1, 1706, the vestry decided to levy a tax 
of twenty thousand pounds of Tobacco as a beginning 
of the building fund. Four years later the members of 
the vestry made known their hope that the House of 
Burgesses would assist in the expense, which, they 
thought, would be about five hundred pounds. To the 
Burgesses a message w^as sent indicating that the vestry 
" do not doubt in the least but the House of Burgesses 
would show their Pious and Generous Spirits by their 
Liberall Donation towards soe Necessary and good a 
worke and that they would assure them to the best of 
their Judgment they would appropriate the same accord- 
ing to the true Intent thereof." 

The Burgesses offered " to take Care of the wings and 
intervening parts," if the vestry would build the ends 
of the church. They also agreed to build the pews for 
the Governor, the Council, and themselves. With their 
help, the building was completed and occupied in 1715. 
The tower was added in 1769. 

Rev. James Blair, who was minister of Bruton parish 
at the time of the erection of the new building, had been 
instrumental in organizing William and Mary College. 
The early history of that institution is bound up with 
that of the church. Some of the most notable conflicts 
between Church and State in the old Colony took place 
during the years of Mr. Blair's activity. He died in 
1743, after serving the church as minister for thirty- 



290 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

three years, William and Mary College as President for 
fifty years, and the Colony as Commissioner for fifty- 
three years. 

Among the famous names on the vestry rolls are those 
of Henry Tyler, great-great-grandfather of President 
Tyler, who was first mentioned on " The Seaventh day 
of April, 1694," and George Wythe, one of the Signers 
of the Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry, and 
George Washington later worshipped with the congre- 
gation. 

When Virginia was about to go to war with Great 
Britain, the House of Burgesses, on May 24, 1774, 
ordered that " the members of the House do attend in 
their places, at the hour of ten in the morning, on the 
first day of June next, in order to proceed with the 
Speaker and the mace, to the church," for fasting, hu- 
miliation, and prayer. During the Revolution the mem- 
bers of the church were noted for their loyalty to the 
Colonies. 

To-day the building is about as it was during the 
troubled days of the war. No change has been made in 
the exterior, but in 1839 the interior was changed in 
many important particulars. In 1905, however, it was 
restored as before. The pulpit was put in the old place. 
The canopy and curtain which had long stood above the 
pew of Governor Spotswood, were found and again put 
in position. King Edward VII gave the new pulpit 
Bible, and President Roosevelt provided the lectern. 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 291 



LXV 

WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, WILLIAMSBURG, 
VIRGINIA 

THE ALMA MATER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, JAMES 
MONROE, AND JOHN TYLER 

Three years before John Harvard left a legacy for 
the founding of the college that bears his name, the 
first bequest for public education made by a resident 
of Virginia was recorded, though this was used for a 
secondary school, rather than for a college. 

The project of a college, proposed in 1617 and 1618 
by the London Company, and in 1619 at the first session 
of the General Assembly, languished until 1685, when 
Rev. James Blair came to the Colony as a missionary 
and settled in Henrico County, where it had been pro- 
posed to found the college sixty-eight years earlier. For 
five years he brooded over the need of a college and in 
1690 he made to a convention at Jamestown " Severall 
Propositions for a free school and college, to be humbly 
presented to the consideration of the next general as- 
sembly." Later, by authority of the Assembly, Dr. 
Blair appealed to the Merchants of London, " espe- 
cially such as traffick with Virginia," and three thou- 
sand pounds were pledged. 

On the occasion of Dr. Blair's visit to England in 
1691, he had an audience with King William, at which 
he presented the petition for " a charter to erect a free 
school and college." The king replied, " Sir, I am glad 
that the Colony is upon so good a design, and will pro- 



292 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

mote it to the best of my power." Queen Mary also 
showed her interest in tlie college. 

To the endowment in lands and taxes provided by 
royal order, Dr. Blair secured an appreciable addition 
in an ingenious manner. Learning that, some time be- 
fore his arrival, the authorities had promised forgive- 
ness to pirates who, before a set day, should confess their 
crimes and give up a portion of their booty, and that 
three famous pirates had come in after the appointed 
day, so that they were arrested, he visited them in jail 
and offered to use his influence in their behalf, if they 
would consent to give to the college a portion of their 
booty. They gladly agreed; Dr. Blair's efforts were suc- 
cessful, and they were given their liberty together witli 
their treasure, minus the promised gift to the Virginia 
College. Another much larger gift was secured from 
the executor of an estate which held money devised in- 
definitely for " pious and charitable uses." The income 
from this portion of the endowment was to be used " to 
keep as many Indian children in meat, drink, washing, 
clothes, medicine, books and education, from the first 
beginning of letters till they should be ready to receive 
orders and be sent abroad to convert the Indians." 

In connection with the charter for " the College of 
William and Mary," which was dated February 8, 1093, 
authority was given to use the seal described as follows: 
" On a green field a college building of silver, with a 
golden sun, showing half its orb, rising above it." This 
is said to be the sole instance of a college, either English 
or American, which has a seal of such high origin. 

Sir Christopher Wren, the designer of St. Paul's 
Cathedral, made the plan for the original building, 
which was to be two stories and a half high, one bun- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 293 

dred and tliirty-six feet long, and forty feet wide, and 
with two wings sixty feet long and tAventy-five feet wide. 
In 1097 it was reported to the governor of the province 
that the front and north side of the proposed rectangle 
had been completed at Williamsburg, and that funds 
were exhausted. The walls were more than three feet 
thick at the base, and contained 840,000 bricks, the prod- 
uct of a brickyard nearby. 

For some years subscriptions were paid slowly, and 
interest in the college languished, but conditions im- 
proved when King William sent to Governor Nicholson 
a proclamation urging him " Y*^ you call upon y« per- 
sons y* have promised to contribute towards y'' main- 
tenance of y'' s'' college, to pay in full the severall 
Contributions." 

The first of the disasters that have visited the main 
building came in 1705, when the interior was burned. 
The college was rebuilt on the old w^alls, as was the case 
after the fire of 1859. Thus, after much more than tw^o 
hundred years, the venerable building looks almost as it 
did when the first students entered its doors. A num- 
ber of other structures have been erected since, including 
the Brq^flferton building in 1723, the house now occupied 
by the president, which dates from 1732, and the chapel, 
begun in 1729. Interest must always centre about the 
central structure, however. 

During the Revolution the president was James Madi- 
son, second cousin of the future President of the United 
States. The president's house was occupied by Corn- 
wallis in 1781. After his surrender French officers 
lived there. During their occupancy the house was 
badly damaged by fire, but it was repaired at the expense 
of the French Army. 



294 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Three events of the years of the war are of special 
moment in the history of higher education in America. 
On December 5, 1776, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the 
first intercollegiate fraternity in the United States, was 
organized. On December 4, 1779, the college was made 
a university, the first in the country, and the same year 
marked the beginning of the Honor System of college 
government which worked such a revolution in other col- 
leges more than a century later. When Thomas Jeffer- 
son, who was a student at William and Mary in 1760-62, 
founded the University of Virginia, the Honor System 
was successfully inaugurated in the new institution. 

Other famous men "who have been connected with 
William and Mary included George Washington, who 
was chancellor in 1794; Chief Justice John Marshall, 
student in 1779 ; Secretary of State Edmund Randolph, 
student in 1766 ; James Monroe, student in 1775. John 
Tyler was also educated there. It is a remarkable fact 
that the presidents who are responsible for adding to 
the original territory of the country Louisiana, Florida, 
Texas, and most of the western territory, were products 
of William and Mary. 



LXVI 

THE MONUMENTAL CHURCH, RICHMOND, 
VIRGINIA 

ON THE SITE OF A THEATRE WHOSE BURNING MOVED 
THE ENTIRE COUNTRY 

*' Last night the playhouse in this city was crowded 
with an unusual audience. There could not have been 
less than 600 persons in the house. Just before the con- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 295 

elusion of the play, the scenery caught fire, and in a few 
minutes the whole building was wrapt in flames. It is 
already ascertained that 61 persons were devoured by 
that most terrific element. The Editor of this paper 
was in the house when the ever-to-be-remembered, de- 
plorable accident occurred. He is informed that the 
scenery took fire in the back part of the house, by raising 
of a chandelier ; that the boy, who was ordered by some 
of the players to raise it, stated, that if he did so, the 
scenery would take fire, when he was commanded in a 
peremptory manner, to hoist it. The boy obeyed, and 
the fire was instantly communicated to the scenery." 

This story the editor of the Richmond (Virginia) 
American Standard told in the columns of his paper on 
Friday, December 27, 1811. He added the fact that 
among those who perished were the Governor of the 
State, as well as many of the leaders in the business 
and social life of the city. 

By order of the city council the remains of the victims 
were buried on the site of the burned building, which 
was bought for the purpose. At the same time it was 
ordered that " no person or persons should be permitted 
for and during the time of four months ... to exhibit 
any public show or spectacle . . . within the city." 

By ordinance it was also decreed that a monument 
should be erected on the site. Later it was suggested 
that there should be built there, by public subscription, 
" an edifice to be set apart and consecrated for the wor- 
ship of God," and that this should be the monument. 

Accordingly, on August 1, 1812, the corner stone of 
the Monumental Church was laid, the lot having been 
purchased by the city for $5,000. The building was 
consecrated as a Protestant Episcopal church in May, 
1814. In April, 1815, the subscribers to the fund for 



296 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

the building, who had organized under the title, " The 
Association for building a Church on Shockoe Hill," 
were notified that one-half of their subscription money 
would be returned to them on application at the Bank 
of Virginia. 

In the middle of the front or main porch of the 
church a white marble monument was erected to the 
memory of the victims of the fire. 

To the General Convention of the Protestant Epis- 
copal church, which assembled in Philadelphia on May 
18, 1814, report was made that " a magnificent church 
has sprung up in Richmond from the ashes of the The- 
atre; it has the patronage and support of men of the 
greatest talents and highest rank in Virginia." 

Among the communicants of the Monumental Church 
have been numbered many of the most prominent men 
in the Virginia capital, and men famous in the early 
history of the country were attendants from time to 
time. In February, 1824, General Lafayette worshipped 
in the building. 



LXVII 

MONTPELIER, ORANGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA 

THE LIFELONG HOME OF JAMES MADISON 

James Madison was born at the residence of his 
mother's parents, at Port Conway, Prince George 
County, Virginia, but before long he was taken to his 
father's house, Montpelier, which was the first brick 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 297 

house built in Orange County. And Montpelier con- 
tinued to be his home to the day of his death. Much 
of his life was spent in Washington, but his heart was 
always turning to the old Virginia plantation where 
he had spent his boyhood, and he took advantage of 
every possible opportunity to go there for a longer or 
shorter visit. 

The distance to Shadwell, where Thomas Jefferson 
lived as a boy, was only thirty miles, but these two who 
were to have such a large place in the early history of 
America, did not meet until Madison was seventeen 
years old. Then lost time was made up. For many 
years the road between Montpelier and the home of 
Jefferson became quite familiar to the friends. 

In the years before he went to college Madison roamed 
at will over the twenty-five hundred acres of the Mont- 
pelier estate. He walked and rode, he hunted and 
fished, he learned to take delight in the quiet scenery of 
that beautiful Blue Ridge country. His tutor, who lived 
on the estate, was his companion on his expeditions. 

It was probably due to this outdoor life that his 
health was so much better in Virginia than it was at 
the College of New Jersey (Princeton College). Soon 
after he graduated in 1771 he returned to Montpelier, 
somewhat broken by reason of overwork and lack of 
exercise. To a college friend in Philadelphia he wrote 
rather pessimistically : 

" I am too tired and infirm now to look for extraordi- 
nary things in this world, for I think my sensations for 
many months have intimated to me not to expect a long 
or a healthy life, though it may be better for me after 
some time; but I hardly dare expect it, and therefore 
have little spirit or elasticity to set about anything that 



298 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

is difficult in acquiring and useless in possessing after 
one has exchanged time for eternity." 

He was right in thinking that he was not to have a 
healthy life, but he was wrong in thinking it was to 
be neither long nor eventful. For more than sixty 
years after he WTote the letter from which quotation 
has been made, he was energetic and devoted in the 
service of his country. In May, 1776, he entered the 
Virginia Convention, thus beginning the career that led 
him to eight years in the White House, And after he 
retired from the Presidency much of his time and 
thought was given to the affairs of the nation. During 
all these years the thought of his Virginia home gave 
him new strength in the midst of his tasks. 

That home meant more to him than ever when, in 
September, 1794, he entered the doors of Montpelier 
with his bride, Dorothy Todd, the young Philadelphia 
widow whom he had married at Harewood, Virginia. 

The estate was still the property of Mr. Madison's 
father, and both his father and mother continued to 
live there. Before long the house was enlarged. The 
rooms so long occupied by the old people were made 
a part of the new mansion. 

The two families lived together in perfect harmony. 
The father lived to see his son President of the United 
States, and the mother was ninety-eight when she died. 
William O. Stoddard, in his " Life of James Madison," 
says that " she kept up the old-fashioned ways of house- 
keeping ; waited upon by her servants who grew old and 
faded away with her. She divided her time between 
her Bible and her knitting, all undisturbed by the mod- 
ern hours, the changed customs, or the elegant hospi- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 299 

tality of the mansion house itself. She was a central 
point in the life of her distinguished son, and the object 
of his most devoted care to the end of her days." 

For Mr. and Mrs. Madison, real life at Montpelier 
began in 1817, after the close of the stirring period in 
the White House. They did not have much opportunity 
to be alone, for guests delighted to come to them, and 
they liked to have others with them, yet they managed 
to secure a wonderful amount of joy out of the years 
spent " within a squirrel's jump of heaven," to use 
Dolly Madison's expressive phrase. 

Among the guests were intimate friends like Jeffer- 
son, who was almost a member of the family. Lafayette, 
too, found his way to the estate, while Harriet Mar- 
tineau told in her " Recollections " of her pleasant so- 
journ there. Frequently strangers who were on the 
way to the Virginia Hot Springs took the five-mile de- 
tour merely to reach Montpelier, and they were always 
made welcome. 

The dining-room was large, but there were sometimes 
so many guests that the table had to be set out of doors. 
Mr. Madison wrote in 1820 of one such occasion : 
" Yesterday we had ninety persons to dine with us at 
our table, fixed on the lawn, under a large arbor. . . . 
Half a dozen only staid all night." 

After a visit to her parents that was broken into 
by the presence of guests, a daughter of the house com- 
plained to her husband that she had not been able to 
pass one sociable moment with her father. His reply 
was sympathetic : " Nobody can ever have felt so se- 
verely as myself the prostration of family society from 
the circumstances you mention. . . . But there is no 
remedy. The present manners and ways of cur country 



300 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

are laws we cannot repeal. They are altering by de- 
grees, and you Avill live to see the hospitality of the 
country reduced to the visiting hours of the day, and 
the family left to tranquillity in the evening." 

When the stew^ard saw that Madison would not curb 
these guests, he began to cut down on the fodder for 
the horses, but when the hospitable host learned of this 
he gave orders that there should be no further attempts 
of this sort. He realized that he was living beyond 
his income, but he saw no help for it. He longed for 
more time in his library or for riding or walking about 
the estate. 

The time came when walks had to be taken on the 
veranda; health was failing rapidly. He was not able 
to oversee the farm as he had long been accustomed to 
do, but depended on others. In 1835 Mrs. Madison 
wrote to her daughter : " My days are devoted to nurs- 
ing and comforting my sick patient, who walks only 
from the bed in which he breakfasts to another." Still 
later she wrote : " I never leave my husband more than 
a few minutes at a time, and have not left the enclosure 
around our house for the last eight months." 

When the owner of Montpelier died, on June 28, 1836, 
he was buried in the cemetery on the estate. Mrs. 
Madison spent a few lonely years in the old home, but 
the property was finally sold to satisfy the debts of 
her wayward son,' Payne Todd. She was sometimes in 
actual want before she died, but Congress provided for 
her relief by buying for twenty-five thousand dollars 
the Madison letters and other papers. 

She lived until July 12, 1849, and her body was 
finally laid by the side of that of her husband. 

William Dupont, the present owner of Montpelier, 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 301 

lias enlarged the bouse by tbe addition of a second 
story to tbe wings. So tbe bouse tbat was built in 
1760 by James Madison, Sr., and was enlarged by 
James Madison, Jr., bas entered on a new era of 
bospitality. 



LXVIII 
OAK HILL, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA 

THE HOME OF JAMES MONROE'S OLD AGE 

James Monroe, at twenty-eigbt, wrote from New York 
to Tbomas Jefferson, witb wbom be bad studied law : 

" I sball leave tbis about tbe 1st of October for Vir- 
ginia — Fredericksburg. Believe me, I bave not relin- 
quished the prospect of being your neighbor. The 
bouse for which I have requested a plan may possibly 
be erected near Monticello; to fix there, and to bave 
yourself in particular, with what friends we may col- 
lect around, for society is my chief object; or rather, 
tbe only one which promises to me, witb tbe connection 
I have formed, real and substantial pleasure ; if, indeed, 
by the name of pleasure it may be called." 

Tbe "connection" of which the future President 
wrote was his marriage to Miss Eliza Kortwright of 
New York. Of this he bad spoken in an earlier letter 
to Jefferson: 

"You will be surprised to hear that I have formed 
the most interesting connection in human life witb a 
young lady in tbis town, as you know my plan was to 
visit you before I settled myself, but having formed an 



302 HISTOEIC SHKINES OF AMERICA 

attachment to this young lady ... I have found that 
I must relinquish all other objects not connected with 
her." 

Monroe was not permitted to practice law long. As 
United States Senator, diplomat, Governor, Cabinet 
officer, and President, his time was so fully occupied 
that no one but a man of his fine physique and endur- 
ance could have stood the strain. Once, during the 
War of 1812, according to his friend. Judge E. R. 
Watson, when the burden of three of the departments 
of the government rested on him — State, Treasury, and 
War — he did not undress himself for ten days and 
nights, and was in the saddle the greater part of the 
time. 

After some years he bought an estate in Loudoun 
County, Virginia, to which he retired for a brief rest 
whenever this was possible. For a time the old dormer- 
windowed house on the property satisfied him, but 
during his presidential term he built Oak Hill, the 
house for which Jefferson had prepared the plans. It 
is said that the nails used in its construction were 
manufactured on the Jefferson estate. 

The house — which was named Oak Hill because of 
the oaks on the lawn, planted by the owner himself, 
one for each State of the Union — has been described by 
Major R. W. N. Noland as follows: 

" The building was superintended by Mr. William 
Benton, an Englishman, who occupied the mixed rela- 
tion to Mr. Monroe of steward, counsellor and friend. 
The house is built of brick in a most substantial man- 
ner, and handsomely finished; it is, perhaps, about 
90x50 feet, three stories (including basement), and 
has a wide portico, fronting south, with massive Doric 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 303 

columns thirty feet high, and is surrounded by a grove 
of magnificent oaks covering several acres. While the 
location is not as commanding as many others in that 
section, being in lower Loudoun where the rolling char- 
acter of the Piedmont region begins to lose itself in 
the flat lands of tide water, the house in two directions 
commands an attractive and somewhat extensive view, 
but on the other side it is hemmed in by mountains, 
for the local names of which, ' Bull Run ' and ' Nigger 
Mountain,' it is to be hoped the late President is in no 
wise responsible. . . . The little stream that washes 
the confines of the Oak Hill estate once bore the Indian 
name Gohongarestaw (the River of Swans), and is now 
called Goose Creek." 

After the expiration of his second term as President 
Monroe made Oak Hill his permanent home, though 
sometimes he was with his daughter, Mrs. Gouverneur, 
in New York. 

One who was a member of the household during a 
part of the six years of the life in Virginia said that 
he " looked perhaps older than he was, his face being 
strongly marked with the lines of anxiety and care." 

There were many guests at Oak Hill, among these 
being Madison and Jefferson. Monroe, in turn, was 
frequently at Monticello and Montpelier. His office 
as Regent of the University of Virginia also brought 
him into frequent touch with his two predecessors in 
the presidency, for they were fellow-members on the 
Board. 

Whenever weather and guests permitted he was ac- 
customed to ride about the estate and through the 
countryside both morning and evening. One day, 
when he was seventy-two, his horse fell on him, and 
his right wrist was sprained so badly that for a time 



304 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

he could not write to his friends, as he had delighted 
to do. Thus he was able to sympathize with Madison 
when a letter came from Montpelier a few months later : 

" In explanation of my microscopic writing, I must 
remark that the older I grow the more my stiffening 
fingers make smaller letters, as my feet take shorter 
steps, the progress in both cases being, at the same 
time, more fatiguing as well as more slow." 

Monroe's last years of life were saddened by financial 
difficulties, though even these brought gleams of joy, 
because of the fidelity of his friends. Lafayette, who 
visited Oak Hill in 1825, wrote later to his friend a 
most delicately worded offer of assistance, indicating 
that he felt it was his right to offer this, since Monroe, 
when minister to France, had exerted himself to bring 
about the release of Lafayette, then a prisoner at 
Olmtitz, and had ministered to the wants of Madame 
Lafayette. 

A measure of relief came when Congress voted to 
repay, in part, the extraordinary expense incurred by 
the statesman during his diplomatic career, but not 
before he had advertised Oak Hill for sale and had 
planned to go to New York to live near his daughter. 
The estate was later withdrawn from the market, but 
the plan to go to New York was carried out: he did 
not see how he could remain after the death of Mrs. 
Monroe, which took place in 1830. 

He did not stay long in New York. On July 4, 1831, 
he died. Twenty-seven years later, on the one hun- 
dredth anniversary of his birth, his body was taken 
to Richmond for burial. There, in his native State, 
rest the remains of him of whom Thomas Jefferson 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 305 

said, " He is a man whose soul might be turned inside 
out without discovering a blemish to the world.'' 



LXIX 

RED HILL, CHARLOTTE COUNTY, VIRGINIA 

WHERE PATRICK HENRY SPENT HIS LAST YEARS 

Patrick Henry was only fifty-eight years old when 
he retired for rest and the enjoyment of family life 
to his 2,920-acre estate, Red Hill, in the Staunton Val- 
ley, thirty-eight miles southeast of Lynchburg. Just 
before he made this move he wrote to his daughter 
Betsy, " I must give out the law, and plague myself 
no more with business, sitting down with what I have. 
For it will be suflScient employment to see after my 
little flock." 

He had served his country well for thirty years, as 
member of the House of Burgesses, as Speaker of the 
first Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774, in 
the Virginia Convention of 1775 where he made his 
most famous speech, and as Governor of Virginia from 
1776 to 1779 and again from 1784 to 1786. He had 
well earned the rest he hoped to find. Washington 
asked him to become Secretary of State and, later, 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. John Adams 
nominated him as minister to France. But he resisted 
all these efforts to draw him from his retirement. 

The house at Red Hill was a simple story and a half 
structure, to which the owner soon added a shed kitchen, 
solely because he " wished to hear the patter of the 



306 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

rain on the roof.'' This original portion of the house 
has been retained intact by later occupants, who have 
made additions with rare appreciation of what is fit- 
ting. The central portion was built by the son of the 
orator, John Henry. The box hedges in which the sage 
of Red Hill took such delight have been retained and 
extended. 

George Morgan, in " The True Patrick Henry," says 
that this life in retirement " might be designated as 
a patriarchal life, if it were not for the fact that the 
cradle was still rocking at Red Hill." Henry's letters 
were full of references to his children. Once he wrote 
to his daughter Betsy, " I have the satisfaction to in- 
form you that we are well, except JohnuA^, Christian, 
and Patrick, and they are recovering fast now.'' And 
again, " I have great cause of thankfulness for the 
health I enjoy, and for that of your mamma and 
all the children. . . . We have another son, named 
Winston.'' 

William Wirt, in his " Life of Patrick Henry," writ- 
ten in 1817, said, " His visitors have not infrequently 
caught him lying on the floor, with a group of these 
little ones, climbing over him in every direction, or 
dancing around him with obstreperous mirth to the 
tune of his violin, while the only contest seemed to be 
who should make the most noise." 

That there were many visitors who had the oppor- 
tuD^ity to see such contests as these is evident from a 
paragraph in " Homes of American Statesmen " : 

" His home was usualh^ filled with friends, its de- 
pendences with their retinue and horses. But crowds, 
besides, came and went; all were received with cordial- 
ity. . . . Those who lived near always came to break- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 307 

fast, when all were welcomed and made full. The 
larder never seemed to get lean. Breakfast over, crea- 
ture comforts, such as might console the belated for the 
loss, were promptly set forth on side-tables in the wide 
entrance-hall. . . . Meanwhile, the master saw and 
welcomed all with the kindliest attention, asked of their 
household, listened to their affairs, gave them his view, 
contented all. These audiences seldom ceased before 
noon, or the early dinner. To this a remaining party 
of twenty or thirty often sat down. . . . The dinner 
ended, he betook himself to his studies until supper, 
after which he again gave himself up to enjoyment." 

/ 
Not only was he a total abststiner, but as he grew 

older he came to detest the odor of tobacco; so there 

were certain refreshments that were never offered to 

the guests at Red Hill. 

During the closing years of his life he spent hours 
over the Bible. Every morning he would take his seat 
in the dining-room, with the big family Bible open be- 
fore him. Once he said to a visitor, " This book is 
worth all the books that ever were printed, and it has 
been my misfortune that I never found time to read it 
with the proper attention and feeling till lately. I 
trust in the mercy of heaven that it is not too late." 

To Betsy, a daughter by his first marriage, he wrote 
in 1796: 

" Some good people think I am no Christian. This 
thought gives me much more pain than the appellation 
of tory; because I think religion of infinitely higher 
importance than politics, and I find much cause to re- 
proach myself that I have lived so long and have given 
no decided and public proof of my being a Christian. 
But, indeed, my dear child, there is a character which 
I prize far above all this world has or can boast. And 



308 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

amongst all the handsome things I hear said of you, 
what gives me the greatest pleasure is, to be told of 
your piety and steady virtue.'' 

As, one by one, the older children grew up and went 
out from Red Hill to homes of their own, they were 
urged to read the Bible. Dorothea was the first to be 
married. Then came Martha Catherine, who, at seven- 
teen, fell in love with the hero who rescued her when 
she fell from a boat into the water. Sarah married 
Robert, the brother of the poet Thomas Campbell. It 
is said that at one time the poet was engaged to come 
to Red Hill as tutor for the younger children of the 
family, but was unable to keep his promise. 

Because of the constant pleas that were made that 
he give up his quiet life and reenter politics, Henry 
Clay wrote, in 1796: 

" I shall never more appear in a public character, 
unless some unlooked-for circumstance shall demand 
from me a transient effort. ... I see with concern our 
old Commander-in-chief most abusively treated — nor are 
his long and great services remembered, as any apology 
for his mistakes in an office to which he was totally 
unaccustomed. If he, whose character as our leader 
during the whole war was above all praise, is so roughly 
treated in his old age, what may be expected by men 
of the common standard of character? " 

He kept his resolution. A few months after writing 
this message, when notified that he had been elected 
Governor of Virginia, for a third term, he wrote, " My 
declining years warn me of my inability." 

But in January, 1799, came an appeal from Wash- 
ington himself that he would present himself as a candi- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 309 

date " if not for Congress, which you may think would 
take you too long from home, as a candidate for Repre- 
sentative in the General Assembly of the Common- 
wealth." The reasons were given : " Your insight of 
character and influence in the House of Representa- 
tives would be a bulwark against such dangerous senti- 
ments as are delivered there at present. It would be 
a rallying point for the timid, and an attraction of the 
wavering. In a word, I conceive it to be of immense 
importance at this crisis that you should be there, and 
I would fain hope that all minor considerations will 
be made to yield to the measure." 

Though Henry knew that he had little strength left, 
he responded to the appeal. On County Court day, 
the first Monday in March, he presented himself before 
the people at Charlotte as a candidate for Representa- 
tive. How they flocked about him! 

A Hampdon-Sidney student, Henry Miller, who heard 
him that day, said afterward: 

" He was very infirm, and seated in a chair con- 
versing with some friends who were pouring in from 
all the surrounding country to hear him. At length 
he rose with difficulty, and stood, somewhat bowed with 
age and weakness. His face was almost colorless. 
His countenance was careworn, and when he com- 
menced his exordium, his voice was slightly cracked and 
tremulous. But in a few minutes a wonderful trans- 
formation of the whole man occurred, as he warmed 
with his theme. He stood erect; his eyes beamed with 
a light that was almost supernatural, his features 
glowed with the hues and fires of youth; and his voice 
rang clear and melodious, with the intonations of some 
great musical instrument whose notes filled the area, 
and fell distinctly and delightfully upon the ears of 
the most distant of the thousands gathered before him." 



310 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Near the close of this effective address he said: 

" You can never exchange the present government, 
but for a monarchy. If the administration have done 
wrong, let us all go wrong together, rather than split 
into factions, which must destroy that union upon which 
our existence hangs. Let us preserve our strength for 
the French, the English, the German, or whoever else 
shall dare to invade our territory, and not exhaust it 
in civil commotion and intestine wars." 

After the conclusion of the oration, Henry went back 
to Red Hill, and never left it again. In April he was 
triumphantly elected, but he was unable to take his 
seat. 

On June 6, 1799, he was near death. When the 
physician offered him a vial of mercury, at the same 
time telling him that the remedy might prolong his 
life a little while, or it might be fatal, he drew over 
his eyes a silken cap which he usually wore, and, hold- 
ing the vial in his hands, made " a simple childlike 
prayer for his family, for his country, and for his own 
soul. Afterwards in perfect calm he swallowed the 
medicine." 

His last word was to his physician, commending the 
Christian religion, which was so real a benefit to a man 
about to die. 

Patrick Henry and his wife lie side by side in the 
rear garden of Red Hill. " His fame his best epitaph " 
is the simple inscription on the stone above the patriot. 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 311 

LXX 

POHICK CHURCH, TRURO PARISH, VIRGINIA 

THE HOME CHURCH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 

Both Triiro parish and George Washington were 
born in 1732, and Washington's connection with Truro 
Church began in 1735, when his father, Augustine 
Washington, became a vestryman, and it continued 
throughout his life, though during his later years, when 
services were seldom held there, he went to Christ 
Church at Alexandria. 

When Washington was a boy he had to make a round 
trip of eighteen miles, frequently over extremely rough 
roads, when he wished to attend services. Yet he was 
a faithful attendant, at all seasons. 

A number of the early rectors of Truro were welcome 
guests at Mt. Vernon. One of these, Charles Green, 
was a physician as well as a minister, as appears from 
the record that he was called to prescribe for Washing- 
ton in 1757, when the young campaigner was so seri- 
ously ill, in consequence of hardships suffered on his 
western trip, that he said he had " too much reason to 
apprehend an approaching decay." 

Five years after this illness Washington was elected 
a member of the vestry of the parish, and he was re- 
elected many times. His record for attendance was 
unusual, in spite of his many outside engagements. 
During the years from 1763 to 1774 thirty-one vestry 
meetings were held. He was absent from eight of 
these, once on account of sickness, twice because he 



312 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

was attending the House of Burgesses, and at least 
three times because he was out of the county. For 
a few months, in 1765, he did not serve, because, on 
the division of Truro parish, Mt. Vernon was thrown 
over the line into the new Fairfax parish. At once the 
new parish made him a member of its vestry, but when, 
in response to a petition which Washington helped to 
present, the House of Burgesses changed the parish line 
so that Mt. Vernon was once more in Truro parish, 
he resumed his service in the old church. There he 
maintained his connection with an official body noted 
for the fact that, at one time or another, it had eleven 
members in the House of Burgesses, two members in 
His Majesty's Council for Virginia, as well as the author 
of the Virginia Bill of Rights and the Constitution of 
the State of Virginia, George Mason. 

When it was decided that a new church building was 
needed, Washington was instrumental in settling the 
inevitable discussion as to site that followed. He made 
a map of the parish, showing where each communicant 
lived, and recommended that the building be placed 
at the centre of the parish, as shown by the map. His 
suggestion was adopted, and a site two miles nearer 
Mt. Vernon was chosen. 

For the new church Washington himself drew the 
plan. He was also active in letting the plan and over- 
seeing the building operation. At an auction of pews, 
held in 1772, when the church was ready for use, he 
bought Number 28, next the communion table, for £10, 
while he paid £13 10s. for pew 30. Evidently he was 
thoughtful for the guests who frequently rode with him 
to service, either in the coach, or in the chaise that fol- 
lowed, or on horseback. When the Mt. Vernon con- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 313 

tingent came to church there was usually quite a pro- 
cession. 

Under date October 2, 1785, the diary of Washington 
tells of one of these processions, as well as of an in- 
teresting event that followed: 

" Went with Fanny Bassett, Burwell, Bassett, Docf 
Stuart, G. A. Washington, Mr. Shaw and Nellie Custis 
to Pohick Church to hear a M"". Thompson preach, who 
returned with me to Dinner. . . . After we were in 
Bed (about Eleven o'clock in the Evening) M'' Houdon, 
sent from Paris by Doct' Franklin and M"^ Jefferson 
to take my Bust, in behalf of the State of Virginia . . . 
arrived." 

For many years Pohick Church was practically de- 
serted, but there is evidence that services were held here 
in 1802. Davies, an Englishman, in his " Four Years 
in America," wrote: 

" About four miles from Occoquon is Pohick. Thither 
I rode on Sunday and joined the Congregation of Par- 
son Weims, who was cheerful in his mien that he might 
win me to religion. A Virginia churchyard on Sunday 
is more like a race-course than a cemetery ; the women 
come in carriages and the men on horses which they 
tie to the trees. The church bell was suspended from 
a tree. I was confounded to hear ' steed threaten steed 
with dreadful neigh,' nor was I less astounded at the 
rattling of carriage-wheels, the cracking of whips, and 
the vociferation of the gentlemen to the negroes who 
attended them; but the discourse of Parson Weims 
calmed every perturbation, for he preached the great 
doctrines of Salvation as one who has experienced their 
power; about half the congregation were negroes." 

This Parson Weems was no other than the author of 



314 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Weems' " Life of Washington," a readable but inac- 
curate biography that had a great vogue seventy-five 
years ago. 

For many years Truro Church was desolate, and relic 
hunters made spoil of the furnishings. But since 1876 
it has been open for services once more. 



LXXI 
MOUNT AIRY, RICHMOND COUNTY, VIRGINIA 

THE PLANTATION HOME OF COLONEL JOHN TAYLOE 

The purchase for £500 of three thousand acres of 
productive land in Charles County, on the Potomac, 
gave a big boost to the fortunes of the Tayloe family 
of Virginia. This shrewd purchase was made by Col- 
onel John Tayloe, the son of William Tayloe (or Tay- 
lor) who came from England in the seventeenth century. 
William Tayloe was a member of the House of Bur- 
gesses in 1710. His son John became a member of 
the Colonial Council in 1732, while his son John, who 
was born in 1721, also had the honor of serving in 
the Council under Lord Dunmore, as well as in the 
first Republican Council, during the administration of 
Patrick Henry. He married the sister of Governor 
George Plater of Maryland. Of his eight daughters 
one married Richard Lightfoot Lee, a Signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, while another married 
Colonel William Augustine Washington, a nephew of 
George Washington, by whom he was educated. 

Colonel John Tayloe, the father of three daughters, 




.MOM'.MKNTAL CHUKCH, UICH.MOM), \ A . 



See page 2'J4 




roHlCK CUUKCH. VIRGINIA 



Fhoto funiislu'd by Ay mar Embury, J I 
Sec page 311 




MOUNT AIRY, RICHMOND COUNTY, VA. 



Photo by H. P. Cook 
See page 314 




UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, CHARLOTTf:SVILLE, VA. 



I'h.lo h,/ II. P. Cook 
See page 321) 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS. 815 

was the builder of Mount Airy, which was for many 
years the most superb mansion in Virginia, and was 
so different from all other mansions that it attracted 
many visitors, even in the days when transit was difll- 
cult. Its twenty-five spacious rooms afforded generous 
accommodation for the guests who were eager to accept 
the invitations of Colonel and Mrs. Tayloe. Among the 
entertainments provided for these guests by the thought- 
ful hosts were concerts by a band made up entirely of 
slaves who had been instructed by their master. On 
occasion this band was taken to the town house at 
Williamsburg, the capital of the State. 

The letters of Washington show that the builder of 
Mount Airy was an ardent patriot, and his friend and' 
associate. These two men were joint executors of the 
estate of one of the Lees. From his headquarters in 
the Craigie House at Cambridge the General wrote to 
Mount Airy a letter about the estate, asking Tayloe to 
become sole executor. 

The varied interests of Colonel Tayloe were indicated 
by his remarkable will, which asked, among other 
things, that one part of his estate in Prince William 
County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, be 
kept intact and worked for the making of pig iron. 
Not only did he own a number of other plantations, but 
he was a large shipowner, and reaped unusual profits 
from trade. 

Perhaps the best known owner of Mount Airy was 
John Tayloe, III, who was born in 1771, and was the 
only son in a family of twelve. He was educated at 
"feton and Cambridge, England. Before going abroad 
he had learned patriotism from his father, and on his 
return he was ready to administer his estate for the 



316 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

benefit of the country as well as his own family. Wlien. 
his inheritance was turned over to him the income :was 
sixty thousand dollars. Within a few years he ia- 
creased this to seventy-five thousand dollars. His 
father's iron- and ship-building interests were conserved 
and enlarged. His master ship-builder at Occoquon 
was his slave Reuben. 

During his residence at Mount Airy the splendor 
of the mansion was increased. Among his guests were 
men who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Wash- 
ington during the Revolution, and those who later be- 
came prominent as associates of Hamilton, Jay, Mar- 
shall, and Pinckney. He married the daughter of 
Governor Ogle of Maryland, and had fifteen children. 

The memorial by one of his sons, Benjamin Ogle 
Tayloe, says that " his manners were refined and ele- 
gant. He was distinguished for his nice sense of 
honor, and a scrupulous regard to his word at all times. 
His wife was esteemed for sincerity and kindness of 
heart, graceful and dignified manners, and true and 
unaffected piety." 

He took time for the services of his country. As 
Captain of Dragoons he went to Western Pennsylvania, 
to help put down the whiskey insurrection. When 
President Adams made him a Major of Dragoons, Gen- 
eral Washington wrote to him a warm letter of con- 
gratulation, but Tayloe hesitated to accept the com- 
mission. He had just been elected as a Federalist to 
the Virginia Senate, and he feared, as he wTote to 
Washington, that if he resigned his seat the place would 
be filled by an opponent of the administration. On 
February 12, 1799, Washington replied that he was 
inclined to believe his civil service would be more im- 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 317 

portant than military service, but lie asked that de- 
cision be delayed until they could have a personal 
interview. Later, on the breaking out of the War of 
1812, he was made commander of the cavalry of the 
District of Columbia, and saw active service. 

Washington's friendship led him to make his winter 
home in the District of Columbia. In 1801 he occupied 
the Octagon House, then the finest private residence 
in the city. When the British burned the White House 
he was at Mount Airy. At once he sent a mounted 
messenger to President Madison, offering the use of 
the Octagon as the temporary Executive Mansion. 

His establishment at Mount Airy was maintained 
in remarkable splendor. His household and equipages 
were the talk of the neighborhood. A lover of fine 
horseflesh, he was the owner of some of the swiftest 
animals of his day. 

The eldest son, John Tayloe, inherited his father's 
ardor for public service. He was engaged brilliantly 
in the battles of the Constitution with the Guerriere, 
and with the Cijano and the Levant. After the action 
his native State gave him a sword, and he was pro- 
moted to a lieutenancy. Though he was captured by 
the British, he lived to return to Mount Airy, where 
he died in 1821. His father died four years later, while 
his mother lived until 1855. 

Mount Airy has always been in the hands of a Tayloe. 
It is now in possession of the family of the late Henry 
Tayloe. 



31S HISTORIC SHRINES OF. AMERICAN 

LXXII 

TWO OF VIRGINIA'S OLDEST CHURCH BUILDINGS 

ST. LUKE'S, IN SMITHFIELD, AND ST. PETER'S, IN 
NEW KENT COUNTY 

Captain Smith in 1607 wrote of his discovery of the 
Indian kingdom of Warrosqiioyacke, Soon settlers 
were attracted to its fertile lands. Twenty-seven years 
later the more than five hundred residents were or- 
ganized into Isle of Wight County. 

In 1632, the ancient brick church near Smithfield 
was built. The tradition fixing this date was estab- 
lished in 1887, when the date 1632 was read in some 
bricks that fell from the walls. 

The builder of the staunch church was Joseph Bridger, 
who was Counsellor of State to Charles II. He is 
buried not far from the church, and on his tomb is 
the inscription : " He dyed April 15 Anno Domini 1688 
Aged 58 years. Mournfully leaving his wife, three 
sons and four daughters." 

The oldest vestry book dates from 1727, for the first 
book was destroyed at the time of General Arnold's 
expedition made to Isle of Wight County, in the effort 
to capture General Parker, of the Continental Army. 
Fortunately, however, a few other records were saved. 
An entry in 1727 spoke of " The Old Brick Church " ; 
evidently the name St. Luke's was of later origin. 

The architectural beauty of the old building is de- 
scribed in a pleasing manner by Aymar Embury, II, 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 319 

the well-known New York architect, in his " Early 
American Churches " : 



" The building is an extremely picturesque brick 
church, reminiscent not of the Renaissance work then 
becoming dominant in England, but of the older Gothic ; 
it is not at all unlike many of the small English parish 
churches of the sixteenth century, when the Gothic style 
was really extinct, although its superficial character- 
istics, the buttresses and the pointed arch, still ob- 
tained. The stepped gable at the chancel end of the 
church is an unusual feature in English architecture. 
. . . The tower is the only part of the building which 
shows the Renaissance influence." 

When the building was some two hundred years old 
it began to fall into disrepair; the people preferred to 
attend the church in Smithfield. Bishop Meade wrote 
his " Old Churches and Families of Virginia " at the 
time when the old church was most dilapidated. He 
said : 

" Its thick walls and high tower, like that of some 
English castle, are still firm, and promise to be for a 
long time to come. The windows, doors, and all the 
interior, are gone. It is said that the eastern window — 
twenty-five feet high — was of stained glass. This ven- 
erable building stands not far from the main road lead- 
ing from Smithfield to Suffolk, in an open tract of 
woodland. The trees for some distance round it are 
large and tall and the foliage dense, so that but little 
of the light of the sun is thrown upon it. The pillars 
which strengthen the walls, and which are wide at the 
base, tapering toward the eaves of the house by stair- 
steps, have somewhat mouldered, so as to allow various 
shrubs and small trees to root themselves therein." 



320 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

For nearly fifty years the ehurcli was closed. But 
in 1884 Rev. David Barr, who was in charge of a church 
nearby, began to raise funds for the reconstruction 
of the building. He persisted in spite of many dis- 
couragements. When matters looked darkest a man 
who signed himself " A Virginian " made the following 
appeal : 

" There is still some plastering to be done in the 
tower, and the pews are to be made or bought. The 
church cannot be completed until the money is raised. 
Can no generous giver be found who will contribute the 
money necessary to bring the east window from Lon- 
don? . . . For sixty odd years the church has stood 
there silent, without a service, facing and defying 
storms and decay, appealing in its desolation to every 
sentiment of the State, of the Church and of the Nation 
against abandonment and desertion, and now in its 
half completed condition, feeling the touch of revival 
and restoration, it pleads more imploringly still for 
just enough money to complete the repairs and to enable 
it once more to enter upon its life of activity, and to 
utter again with renewed joyousness the ancient but 
long suppressed voice of prayer and of thanksgiving. 
Shall it appeal in vain? " 

The appeal was not in vain. The church was com- 
pleted. Twelve beautiful memorial windows were put 
in place. These bore the names of George Washington, 
Joseph Bridger, the architect of the church, Robert E. 
Lee, Rev. William Hubbard, the first rector. Sir Walter 
Raleigh, John Rolfe, Captain John Smith, Bishops 
Madison, Moore, Meade, and Johns, and Dr. Blair, 
whose connection with Bruton Church and William 
and Mary College is told in another chapter of this 
volume. 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 321 

A building that is similar and yet in many respects 
quite different is in New Kent County, about as far 
above Williamsburg as Smitlifield is below that uni- 
versity town. This is St. Peter's Church. It is thought 
that the parish dates from 1654, though the present 
building was not begun until 1701. The minute which 
tells of the first plan for the structure is dated August 
13, 1700 : 

" Whereas, the Lower Church of this Parish is very 
much out of Repair and Standeth very inconvenient 
for most of the inhabitants of the said parish; There- 
fore ordered that as soon as conveniently may be a new 
Church of Brick Sixty feet long and twenty fower feet 
wide in the clear and fourteen feet pitch with a Gallery 
Sixteen feet long be built and Erected upon the Main 
Roade, by the School House near Thomas Jackson's; 
and the Clerk is ordered to give a copy of this order 
to Capt. Nich. Merewether who is Requested to show 
the same to Will Hughes and desire him to draw a 
Draft of said Church and to bee at the next vestry." 

The cost of the new church was one hundred and 
forty-six thousand pounds of tobacco. This included 
the main building only, for the belfry was not built 
until 1722. 

Rev. David Mossom, who was rector of the church 
from 1727 to 1767, was the minister who married Gen- 
eral Washington, at the White House, as the home of 
his bride was called, a few miles from St. Peter's 
Church. The story is told of this eccentric minister 
that on one occasion, having quarrelled with his clerk, 
he rebuked him from the pulpit. The latter avenged 
himself by giving out to the congregation the psalm in 
which were these lines: 



322 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

" With restless and ungovcrn'd rage 
Why do the heathen storm? 
Why in such rash attempts engage 
As they can ne'er perform? " 

The epitaph on the tomb of Mr. Mossom in St. Peter's 
churchyard states that he was the first native American 
admitted to the office of Presbyter in the Church of 
England. 



LXXIII 

MONTICELLO, NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, 
VIRGINIA 

THE HOME OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 

" Oh, my young master, they were all burnt, but ah ! 
we saved your fiddle ! " 

So the negro servant replied to Thomas Jefferson 
who, on returning from a trip, learning that his home 
at Shadwell had been burned, asked after his books. 
To the negro's mind the fiddle was the most important 
thing in the house. 

Fortunately the new mansion, Monticello, near Char- 
lotte, which he had designed, was so nearly completed 
that he was able to take up his residence there. Two 
years later he led into the new house his bride, Martha 
Skelton, a widow of twenty-three. 

Before the marriage Jefferson, in accordance with 
the Virginia law, in company with Francis Eppes, en- 
tered into a license bond, of which the following is a 
copy; 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 323 

" Know all men by these presents that we Thomas 
Jefferson and Francis Eppes are held and firmly bound 
to the sovereign lord the king his heirs and successors 
in the sum of fifty pounds current money of Virginia, 
to the paiment of which well and truly to be made we 
bind ourselves jointly and severally, our joint and sev- 
eral heirs, executors and administrators, in witness 
whereof we have hereto set our hands and seals this 
twenty-third day of December in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy one. The con- 
dition of the above obligation is such that if there be 
no lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended to be 
had and solemnized between the above bound Thomas 
Jefferson and Martha Skelton of the County of Charles 
County, widow, for which a license is desired, then this 
obligation is to be null and void, otherwise the same 
is in full force." 

Edward Bacon, who was overseer at Monticello for 
twenty years, described the estate in vivid words: 

" Monticello is quite a high mountain, in the shape 
of a sugar-loaf. A winding road led up to the mansion. 
On the very top of the mountain the forest trees were 
cut down, and ten acres were cleared and levelled. . . . 
I know every room in that house. Under the house and 
the terrace that surrounded it, were the cisterns, ice- 
house, cellar, kitchen, and rooms for all sorts of pur- 
poses. His servants' rooms were on one side. . . . 
There were no negro and other out-houses around the 
mansion, as you generally see on plantations. The 
grounds around the house were beautifully ornamented 
with flowers and shrubbery. . . . Back of the house was 
a beautiful lawn of two or three acres, where his grand- 
children used to play. 

" His garden was on the side of the mountain, I had 
it built while he was President. It took a great deal 
of labor. We had to blow out the rocks for the walls 
for the different terraces, and then make the soil. . . . 



324 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA: 

I used to send a servant to Washington with a great 
many fine things for his table, and he would send back 
the cart loaded with shrubbery." 

Jefferson spent most of his time on his estate until 
his death in 1826, except when he was called away for 
the service of his country. 

Nine years after the beginning of the happy married 
life in Monticello there was a panic among the servants 
because of the approach of the British. Because Jef- 
ferson was Governor of Virginia, it was thought that 
of course the mansion would be pillaged. Mrs. Jeffer- 
son was put in the carriage and sent to a place of 
safety, while Mr. Jefferson remained at home, collect- 
ing his most valuable papers. Later he followed his 
family. But when the soldiers reached the estate, the 
first inquiry of the leader of the party was for the 
master of the house. When he learned that Jefferson 
had escaped, he asked for the owner's private rooms, 
and, on being shown the door which led to them, he 
turned the key in the lock and ordered that nothing in 
the house should be touched. This, it was explained, 
was in strict accordance with the orders that had been 
given by General Tarleton; their sole duty was to seize 
the Governor. 

A year later, when the Marquis de Chastellux, a 
nobleman from France, visited Monticello, he was 
charmed with the house of which Mr. Jefferson was 
the architect, and often one of the workmen. He said 
it was " rather elegant, and in the Italian taste, though 
not without fault; it consists of one large square pa- 
vilion, the entrance of which is by two porticoes, orna- 
mented with pillars. The ground floor consists of a 
very large lofty saloon, which is to be decorated entirely 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 325 

in the antique style; above it is a library of the same 
size; two small wings, with only a ground floor and 
attic story, are joined to this pavilion, and communi- 
cate with the kitchen, offices, etc., which will form a 
kind of basement story, over which runs a terrace." 

Another attractive picture was given by the Due de 
la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, after his visit to Monti- 
cello in 1796. He noted the fact that Jefferson owned 
five thousand acres, of which but eleven hundred were 
cultivated. 

" I found him in the midst of the harvest," he wrote, 
" from which the scorching heat of the sun does not 
prevent his attendance. . . . Every article is made on 
his farm: his negroes are cabinet makers, carpenters, 
masons, bricklayers, smiths, etc. The children he em- 
ploys in a nail factory, which yields already a con- 
siderable profit. . . . His superior mind directs the 
management of his domestic concerns with the same 
abilities, activity and regularity which he evinced in 
the conduct of public affairs." 

Long absence from home and lavish hospitality 
wrecked the Jefferson fortune, and when the owner of 
Monticello finally returned home after his eight years 
as President, he was compelled to curtail his expenses. 
But still he made guests welcome. It is said that at 
times there were as many as fifty guests in the house 
at one time. One of those who sought the Sage of 
Monticello in 1817 was Lieutenant Francis Hall, who 
wrote of his veneration as he looked on " the man who 
drew up the Declaration of American Independence, 
who shared in the Councils by which her freedom was 
established, when the unbought voices of his fellow- 
citizens called to the exercise of a dignity from which 



326 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

his own moderation impelled him, when such an ex- 
ample was most salutarj^, to withdraw; and who, while 
he dedicates the evening of his glorious days to the 
pursuits of science and literature, shuns none of the 
humble duties of private life; but, having filled a seat 
higher than that of kings, succeeds with graceful dig- 
nity to that of the good neighbor, and becomes the 
friendly adviser, lawyer, physician, and even gardener 
of his vicinity." 

July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, was the day of Jefferson's death. 
The sale of his estate was sufficient to pay all his debts. 
To his daughter who was thus made homeless, the legis- 
latures of South Carolina and Virginia each voted as 
a gift 110,000. 

On the stone placed over the grave of the Sage of 
Monticello was carved the inscription which he him- 
self had asked for : " Here was buried Thomas Jeffer- 
son, author of the Declaration of American Independ- 
ence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, 
and Father of the University of Virginia." 



LXXIV 

THE UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA AT 
CHARLOTTESVILLE 

THE CHILD OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S OLD AGE 

When Thomas Jefferson retired from the Presidency 
he was surrounded at Monticello by his daughter, her 
husband, and eleven grandchildren. Daily association 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 327 

with the young people made him more anxious than 
ever to carry out a plan that was the growth of years. 
He wanted to see other children as happy as were those 
in his own home, and he felt that the one thing he could 
do to increase their happiness would be to see that the 
State made provision for their education. 

During the remainder of his life he never lost sight 
of his project. While he did not live to see his system 
of common schools established in Virginia, it was his 
joy to see the University of Virginia grow under his 
hands from an academy to a college and then to a uni- 
versity. From 1817 he labored for State appropria- 
tions for the school. A friend in the State Senate as- 
sisted him nobly. The reader of the published volume 
of the correspondence between the two men, a volume 
of 528 pages, will see how untiring was the labor that 
had its reward when the appropriation of funds made 
sure the founding of the university. Three hundred 
thousand dollars were provided for construction, as 
well as 115,000 a year for maintenance. 

Jefferson himself drew the plans for the buildings 
and superintended the construction. Sarah N. Ran- 
dolph, in " The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson," 
says that " the architectural plan and form of govern- 
ment and instruction for this institution afforded con- 
genial occupation for his declining years. . . . While 
the buildings were being erected, his visits to them were 
daily; and from the northeast corner of the terrace at 
Monticello he frequently watched the workmen engaged 
'on them, through a telescope which is still [1871] pre- 
served in the library of the University." 

Edmund Bacon, the overseer at Monticello, gave to 
Hamilton W. Pierson, the author of " Jefferson at 



328 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Monticello," a humorous account of the early days of 
the project: 

" The act of the Legislature made it the duty of the 
Commissioners to establish the University within one 
mile of the Court House at Charlottesville. They ad- 
vertised for proposals for a site. Three men offered 
sites. The Commissioners had a meeting at Monticello, 
and then went and looked at all these sites. After they 
had made their examination, Mr. Jefferson sent me to 
each of them, to request them to send by me their price, 
which was to be sealed up. Lewis and Craven each 
asked |17 per acre, and Perry, |12. That was a mighty 
big price in those days. . . . They took Perry's forty 
acres, at |12 per acre. It was a poor old turned-out 
field, though it was finely situated. Mr. Jefferson wrote 
the deed himself. Afterwards Mr. Jefferson bought a 
large tract near it. It had a great deal of timber and 
rock on it, which was used in building the University. 

" My next instruction w^as to get ten able-bodied 
hands to commence the work. , . . Mr. Jefferson 
started from Monticello to lay off the foundation, and 
see the work commenced. An Irishman named Dins- 
more, and I, went along with him. As we passed 
through Charlottesville, I . . . got a ball of twine, and 
Dinsmore found some shingles and made some pegs. 
. . . Mr. Jefferson looked over the ground some time, 
and then stuck down a peg. ... He carried one end 
of the line, and I the other, in laying off the foundation 
of the University. He had a little ruler in his pocket 
that he always carried with him, and with this he 
measured off the ground, and laid off the entire founda- 
tion, and then set the men at work." 

This foot-rule was shown to Dr. Pierson by Mr. 
Bacon, who explained how he secured it: 

" Mr. Jefferson and I were once going along the bank 
of the canal, and in crawling through some bushes and 



HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS 329 

vines, it [the ruler] fell out of his pocket and slid down 
the bank into the river. Some time after that, when 
the water had fallen, I went and found it, and carried 
it to Mr. Jefferson. He told me I . . . could keep it. 
. . . When I die, that rule can be found locked up in 
that drawer. 

" After the foundations were nearly completed, they 
had a great time laying the corner-stone. The old field 
was covered with carriages and people. There was an 
immense crowd there. Mr. Monroe laid the corner- 
stone. He was President at that time. ... He held 
the instruments, and pronounced it square. I can see 
Mr. Jefferson's white head just as he stood there and 
looked on. 

" After this he rode there from Monticello every day 
while the University was building, unless the weather 
was very stormy. . . . He looked after all the mate- 
rials, and would not allow any poor materials to go 
into the building if he could help it." 

A letter from Jefferson to John Adams, written on 
October 12, 1823, spoke of the " hoary winter of age." 
" Against this tedium vitae," he said, " I am fortunately 
mounted on a hobby, which, indeed, I should have bet- 
ter managed some thirty or forty years ago ; but whose 
easy amble is still sufficient to give exercise and amuse- 
ment to an octogenary rider. This is the establishment 
of a University, on a scale more comprehensive, and 
in a country more healthy and central than our old 
William and Mary, which these obstacles have long 
kept in a state of languor and inefficiency." 

In designing the buildings Jefferson acknowledged 
his indebtedness to Palladio, who guided him in his 
adaptation of Roman forms. The visitor who is famil- 
iar with Rome is reminded of the baths of Diocletian, 
the baths of Caracalla,. and the temple of Fortuna 



330 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Virilis, while a reduction of the Pantheon, with a ro- 
tunda, is the central feature of the group. 

The University was opened in March, 1825. Forty 
students were in attendance, though at the beginning 
of the second year the number was increased to one 
hundred and seventy-seven. 

The central feature of the collection of buildings, the 
wonderful Rotunda, was badly injured in the fire of 
1895 which destroyed the Annex. The Rotunda was 
soon rebuilt according to Jefferson's original plan, and 
the group of buildings is more beautiful than ever. 



SEVEN: THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 



The long, grey moss that softly swings 
In solemn grandeur from the trees, 
Like m^ournful funeral draperies, — 

A hrown-icinged bird that never sings. 



Albert Bigelow Paine. 



Magnet-South! gistening perfumed South! my South! 

quick mettle, rich blood, impulse and love! good and evil! all 

dear to me! 
dear to me my birth-things — all moving things and the trees where 

I was born — the grains, plants, rivers. 
Dear to me my own slow sluggish rivers where they floio, distwnc, over 

flats of silvery sands or through sioamps. 

******* 

the cotton plant! the growing fields of rice, sugar, hemp! 

The cactus guarded ivith thorns, the laurel-tree with large white fioicers. 

The range afar, the richness and barrenness, the old woods charged with 

mistletoe and trailing moss, 
The piney odor and the gloom, the awful natural stillness {here in, 

these dense swamps the freebooter carries his gun, and the fugitive 

has his conceal' d hut;) 



The mocking bird, the American mimic, singing all the forenoon, singing 
through the moonlit night. 

The humming bird, the wild turkey, the raccoon, the opossum; 

A Kentucky corn-field, the tall, graceful, long-leav'd corn, slender, 
flapping, bright green, tcith tassels, loith beautiful ears each well- 
sheath' d in its husk; 

my heart! tender and fierce pangs, I can stand them not, I will 
depart ; 

to be a Virginian lohere I grew up! to be a Carolinian! 

longings irrepressible ! I ivill go back to old Tennessee and never 
wander more. 

Walt Whitman. 



SEVEN: THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 



LXXV 

THREE OLD CHURCHES IN CHARLESTON, 
SOUTH CAROLINA 

ST. MICHAEL'S, ST. PHILIP'S, AND THE HUGUENOT CHURCH, 
RELICS OF COLONIAL DAYS 

The oldest church building in Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, is a 
relic of three wars. At the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion the rector and the vestry disagreed ; the rector was 
a loyalist and most of the members were patriots. 
Accordingly the rector resigned. Later the beautiful 
tower, which is unlike any other church tower in Amer- 
ica, was painted black, lest it become a guiding beacon to 
the British fleet. Unfortunately the black tower against 
the blue sky proved a better guide than a white tower 
would have been. 

The clear-toned bells, which were cast in London in 
1757, were taken from the tower when the British evac- 
uated the city in 1782, and were sold in London as 
spoils of war. Fortunately a Mr. Ryhiner, once a mer- 
chant in Charleston, learned of this, bought them, and 
sent them to Charleston as a business venture. 

When the bells were landed on the wharf from the 
brig Lightning, on November 20, 1783 — according to 

333 



334 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Johnson's " Traditions of Charleston " — " the overjoyed 
citizens took possession, and hurried them up to the 
church and into the steeple, without thinking that they 
might be violating a private right." In June, 1785, 
Mr. Ryhiner asked for payment for the bells. Later 
a subscription was ordered to pay the merchant. 

During the British occupation of the city horses were 
stabled in the church, and the lead roof was removed, 
for use in bullet making. 

In 1811 and 1812 the church figured in the second 
war with Great Britain. The vestry, whose patriotism 
was as great as ever, opened the building more than 
once for meetings of the citizens who wished to con- 
sider what they could do to help their country in the 
impending conflict. 

During the Civil War the bells were taken to Colum- 
bia, to be cast into cannon. Fortunately they were not 
used for this purpose, but during Sherman's march to 
the sea they were burned and broken into small pieces. 
A friend of the church in London, on learning of the 
disaster, searched records of the bell-founders till he 
learned who had cast the bells. These records told the 
proportions of metal used and the sizes of the bells. 
Then the Londoner wrote to Charleston and asked that 
the fragments be sent to him. When these were re- 
ceived in London they were recast in the original 
moulds, which were discovered by an old employee. 
The cost of recasting the bells and restoring them to 
their places in the steeple was |7,723, of which sum 
the City Council contributed |3,000 ; |2,200, the charge 
made for import duty, was later returned to the church 
by special Act of Congress. 

For nearly tw^enty years after the receipt of these 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 335 

new-old bells, they were used to sound fire-alarms, as 
well as for calling to the services of the church. 

The venerable building has suffered from fire, wind, 
and earthquake, as well as from war. In 1825 a cyclone 
damaged the spire and the roof, and in 1886 earthquake 
cracked the walls, destroyed a portion of the tower, and 
did so much further damage that a Charleston paper 
spoke of it as the " saddest wreck of all." At first it 
was feared that the building would have to be demol- 
ished, but repairs were found to be possible at a cost 
of 115,000. 

The structure dates from 1752, when Governor Glenn 
of South Carolina laid the corner stone. The cost was 
132,775.87. 

St. Michael's parish was set off in 1751 from St. 
Philip's parish. The first St. Philip's Church was 
burned in 1G81 or 1682. A second church was opened 
in 1723. This famous building survived until 1835, in 
spite of wars and fires. The building w^as saved during 
the fire of 1796 by a slave who climbed to the tower 
and threw to the ground a burning brand. As a re- 
ward the vestry purchased his freedom. But during 
the great fire of February 15, 1835, the edifice was 
destroyed. 

The old church had been so much a part of the life 
of the city and was so thoroughly identified with the 
history of the country, that the citizens rejoiced when 
the decision was reached to rebuild it in practically 
every detail like the original, with the addition of a 
chancel and spire. 

Older than either St. Philip's or St. Michael's, as an 
organization, is the Huguenot Church of Charleston. 
The early records of the congregation were destroyed 



336 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

in the fire of 1740, though the building was saved. This 
first building was blown up during the fire of 1796, in 
a vain effort to stay the progress of the conflagration. 
A second building followed in 1800, and the present 
building was erected in 1828, when English displaced 
the French language in the services. 

Many of the early members became famous in history. 
The tablets erected to their memory are so numerous 
that the Huguenot Church might well dispute with 
St. Philip's Church the title, "The Westminster of 
South Carolina." 



LXXVI 

THE HOUSE OF REBECCA MOTTE, CHARLESTON, 
SOUTH CAROLINA 

THE SPARTAN MATRON WHO HELPED BURN HER OWN 
PROPERTY 

Charleston, South Carolina, was only about thirty 
years old when the Englishman, Robert Brewton, and 
the Huguenot exile, John de la Motte, took up their 
residence there. In 1758 Robert Brewton's daughter 
Rebecca married Jacob Motte, grandson of the 
Huguenot. 

Three daughters came to the Motte home, and the 
family lived quietly until the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion. In 1775 Mrs. Motte's brother. Miles Brewton, 
sailed for England with his family, intending to leave 
them with relatives there while he returned to Charles- 
ton for the service of his country. But the vessel was 




I'hntn 



IND1:1'1:N1)K.NT I'UKSliVTEUlAX (HrHCll, SAVANXAII, OA. 



Sec page 340 




PRINiiLE H()L8E, ClIAKLESTON, S. C. 



Pholo by II. P. Cook 
See page 330 




THE CABILDO, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



Photo by Ph. B. Wallace 
See page 343 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 337 

lost, and was never heard from again. His Charleston 
house on King Street, which was built about 1765, be- 
came the property of his sister. 

When the war broke out, Mrs. Motte, knowing that 
it was impossible for her husband to become a soldier 
because of his failing health, decided to do her part 
for her country. Fortifications were to be built, and 
many laborers were needed, so she sent to her planta- 
tion for all the able-bodied men; these she placed at 
the disposal of those in charge of the work of de- 
fence. 

She had her reward when, first in 1776, and again 
in 1779, the British forces were unable to secure pos- 
session of the town. The third attempt, made by Sir 
Henry Clinton in 1780, was successful. For nearly 
three years the town was in the enemy's control. The 
Motte house was made headquarters by Clinton and 
his staff. The Mottes were crowded into a small room, 
while the British lived in comfort in the large apart- 
ments. Mrs. Motte divided her time between her in- 
valid husband, her timid daughters, and the invaders. 
It was her custom to preside at the long dinner table, 
but the young ladies were never allowed to appear in 
the presence of the officers. 

A reminder of the presence of the unwelcome guests 
is still to be seen on the marble mantel in one of the 
rooms — a caricature of Clinton scratched on the pol- 
ished surface, evidently with a diamond point. In the 
same room the women of Charleston — who were accus- 
tomed to go about the streets in mourning, during the 
period of the occupation — presented a petition to Lord 
Rawdon, asking for the pardon of Isaac Hayne, a pa- 
triot who had been condemned for some infraction of 



338 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

the regulations of the invaders. Their petition for 
clemency was in vain, though it was emphasized by the 
presence of Hayne's two little children. 

After the death of Mr. Motte, in January, 1781, Mrs. 
Motte and her daughters secured permission to leave 
Charleston that they might return to the family planta- 
tion on the Congaree, thirty or forty miles from Colum- 
bia. They were disappointed in their desire to be alone, 
for it was not long till the English decided to build 
on the estate one of their long line of military stations. 
Earthworks were thrown up around the house, which 
became known as Fort Motte. Again the family were 
crowded into a few rooms, while officers occupied the 
remainder. 

After a time Mrs. Motte was asked to retire to a 
small house on the plantation, a rough structure, cov- 
ered with weather-boards, unplastered and only par- 
tially lined. At first it seemed that there was no place 
here to conceal the silverware brought from Fort Motte. 
How the difficulty was solved has been told in " Worthy 
Women of Our First Century " : 

" Some one suggested that the unfinished state of the 
walls of their sitting-room afforded a convenient hiding 
place; and they set to work to avail themselves of it. 
Nailing tacks in the vacancy between the outer and 
inner boarding, and tying strings around the various 
pieces of silver, they hung them along the inner wall. 
Shortly afterwards a band of marauders did actually 
invade the premises; and one more audacious than the 
others jumped on a chair and thrust his bayonet into 
the hollow wall, saying he would soon find what they 
had come in search of; but, rapping all along on the 
floor wathin the wall, he did not once strike against 
anything to reward bad perseverance." 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 339 

After a time General Marion and Colonel Lee led 
up troops for the siege of Fort Motte. Fearing that 
British reenforcements were on the way, they decided 
they must make an attack at once. The best way 
seemed to be to set fire to the main building. The 
American leaders, knowing that this was the home of 
Mrs. Motte, took counsel with her. " Do not hesitate 
a moment,'- was the prompt reply of the patriotic 
woman. Then she added, " I will give you something 
to facilitate the destruction." So saying, she handed 
to General Lee a quiver of arrows from the East Indies 
which, so she had been told by the ship captain who 
brought them to Charleston, w^ould set on fire any wood 
against which they were thrown. 

Two of the arrows were fired from a gun without 
result, but the third set fire to the shingles of the house. 
The efforts of the garrison to extinguish the flames 
were in vain, and before long the fortress was surren- 
dered to the patriots. In later years, when Mrs. Motte 
was praised for her part in the siege, she was accus- 
tomed to say, " Too much has been made of a thing 
that any American woman would have done." 

After the w^ar Mrs. Motte returned to the house in 
Charleston. The daughters married, and numerous 
grandchildren played in the rooms where the British 
officers lived during the occupation of Charleston. The 
youngest of these granddaughters lived in the house in 
1876, when the story of Rebecca Motte was written for 
the Women's Centennial Executive Committee. 

During her last years in the old mansion, Mrs. Motte 
was proudly pointed out to visitors to the city. One 
of her great-grandchildren said that at the time " she 
was rather under-sized and slender, with a pale face, 



340 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

blue eyes, and grey hair that curled slightly under a 
high-crowned ruffled mob-cap. She always wore a 
square white neckerchief pinned down in front, tight 
sleeves reaching only to the elbow, with black silk mit- 
tens on her hands and arms; a full skirt with huge 
pockets, and at her waist a silver chain, from which 
hung her pin-cushion and scissors and a peculiarly 
bright bunch of keys." 

The body of this gracious patriot was buried in old 
St. Philip's Church, another of the Revolutionary land- 
marks of the Palmetto City. 

The mansion which she made famous should be called 
the Brewton House, or the Motte House. But a Motte 
married an Alston, and an Alston married a Pringle, 
and so many families of the latter name have been asso- 
ciated with the place that their name is popularly 
given to it. 



LXXVII 

THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH, SAVANNAH, 
GEORGIA 

FOR WHICH KING GEORGE II MADE A LAND GRANT 

When George II, of his " special Grace, certain knowl- 
edge and meer motion," gave a deed for a lot in Savan- 
nah, " in our province of Georgia," he declared that it 
was " for the use and benefit of 3uch of our loving sub- 
jects ... as are or shall be professors of the Doctrines 
of the Church of Scotland, agreeable to the Westminster 
Confession of Faith." The further stipulation was 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 341 

made that the annual rent, if demanded, should be 
" one pepper corn." 

The date of the grant was January 16, 1756, and 
within the three years allowed for the erection of the 
building a brick structure was ready for the use of the 
Independent Presbyterian Church. The church was 
independent in fact as well as in name. There was at 
first no presbytery in Georgia with which it could unite, 
and when a presbytery was organized, this independent 
relation continued. 

The first pastor was Rev. John Joachim Zubly, who 
came to the Colonies from Switzerland. He remained 
with the church until 1778, and became a prominent 
figure among the patriots of the early years of the 
Revolution. When the first Provincial Congress of 
Georgia met in Savannah, July 4, 1775, it adjourned, 
immediately after organization, to the Independent 
Church, where Dr. Zubly preached a sermon for which 
he received the public thanks of Congress. 

The London Magazine for January, 1776, contained 
an impassioned appeal for the Colonies, which was 
signed by Dr. Zubly. The editor stated that the com- 
munication was printed at the request of " an old cor- 
respondent," who signed himself " O." It is supposed 
that this correspondent was General James E. Ogle- 
thorpe, the founder of Georgia. A few months later 
Dr. Zubly went to Philadelphia, as a member of the 
second Continental Congress. He had also been a 
member of the first Congress in 1774. 

During the siege of Savannah by the British the 
church building was badly injured by British cannon, 
in spite of the fact that it was used as a hospital. Later 
the British used the church as barracks. A visitor who 



342 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

entered the city in 1784 said that he found the church 
in a ruinous condition. It was promptly repaired, 
however, and services were resumed. 

But there was another pastor in the pulpit. In 1778 
Dr. Zubly resigned, probably because, for some strange 
reason, he deserted the Colonies and made known his 
allegiance to Great Britain. 

Fire destroyed the original building in 1796, and a 
fine new church was built. Twenty-one years later the 
rapidly increasing congregation made necessary a much 
larger structure. The new church was modelled after 
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, and more than two 
years were required for its construction. The cost was 
$96,108,671, a large sum for that day in a town of ten 
thousand people. Although the middle aisle was eleven 
feet wide and each of the side aisles four and a half 
feet wide, there were seatings for 1,350 people. The 
beautifully proportioned steeple was 223 feet high. 
The day after the dedication a local paper said that 
" for grandeur of design and nature of execution, we 
presume this church is not surpassed ' by any in the 
United States." Many architectural writers have told 
rapturously of the wonders of this building. 

President James Monroe and his suite, as well as 
many other distinguished visitors, were reverent wor- 
shippers in the church on the day of dedication. 

Lowell Mason, who was organist of the church from 
1815 to 1827, composed the popular melody to which 
Bishop Heber's missionary hymn, " From Greenland's 
Icy Mountains," is usually sung. This melody was first 
played by him for the Sunday school of the church, 
whose organization dates from 1804. 

Dr. S. K. Axson, the grandfather of Ellen Axson, the 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 343 

first wife of President Woodrow Wilson, was pastor of 
the church from 1857 to 1889. The Wilson marriage 
ceremony was performed by Dr. Axson in the manse 
of the chnrch. 

All Savannah mourned when, on April 6, 1889, fire- 
brands tossed by the wind lodged on a cornice of the 
graceful steeple, too high to be reached. Soon the old 
church was in ruins. But the city resolved that the 
historic church must be restored. A new building was 
erected which is an exact reproduction of the former 
church. To it, as to its predecessors, ecclesiastical 
architects go on pilgrimage as a part of their education. 

One of the old customs still continued in the church 
is the assembling of the communicants at a table which 
is laid the entire length of the broad aisle, as well as in 
the transept aisle. 



LXXVIII 

THE CABILDO OP NEW ORLEANS 

WHICH SAW THE TRANSFER OF LOUISIANA TO THE 
UNITED STATES 

When Count Alejandro O'Reilly, Irish Lieutenant- 
General of Spain, entered New Orleans on July 24, 1769, 
he came as the avenger of the disorders that followed 
the transfer of Louisiana to Spain by the Treaty of 
Paris. After putting to death some of the leaders in 
the revolt, he reorganized the civil government. Among 
other innovations he instituted the Cabildo as the law- 
making body for the province, to take the place of the 



344 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

French superior council. The meeting place was a 
building on the Place d'Armes. In this square, on the 
coming of O'Reilly, the flag of France had been displaced 
by that of Spain as Aubrey said, " Gentlemen, by order 
of the King, my master, I absolve you from your oath 
of fidelity and obedience to his most Christian majesty." 
The Spanish and French officers then had gone together 
to the cathedral, next door to the meeting place of the 
Cabildo. 

The original building occupied by the Cabildo was 
destroyed in the fire of 1788, when, in less than five 
hours, eight hundred and sixteen buildings were burned. 
The loss, amounting to three million dollars, was a bless- 
ing in disguise, for it cleared the ground for the recon- 
struction of the city under the leadership of Don Andres 
Almonaster y Roxas, who was a member of the Cabildo. 
He had become rich since his arrival with the Spaniards, 
and he had a vision of a city glorified through his 
wealth. 

First he built a schoolhouse, a church, and a hospital. 
On one side of the church he built a convent; on the 
other side he erected a new town hall, the Cabildo. The 
walls — which are as sturdy to-day as in 1795 — are of 
brick, half the thickness of the ordinary brick. Shell 
lime was used for the mortar. Originally the Cabildo 
was two stories in height, with a flat roof; the mansard 
roof was added in 1851. At the same time the open 
arches of the second story loggia that corresponded to 
the arcade on the ground floor were closed, that there 
might be more room for offices. 

For eight years more the Cabildo continued its ses- 
sions under Spanish rule. Then came the news that 
Louisiana had been transferred by Spain to France. 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 345 

Great preparations were made for the ceremonies that 
were to accompany the lowering of the Spanish flag and 
the raising of the French colors in the square before 
the Cabildo. Then the prefect Laussat was thunder- 
struck by the coming of word that Napoleon had ap- 
pointed a Commission not only to receive the colony 
from Spain but also to give it into the hands of the 
United States, to whom the vast territory had been sold. 

The first transfer took place on November 30, 1803. 
The oflicial document was signed in the Sala Capitular, 
the hall where the Cabildo met, and was read from the 
centre gallery. Then the tricolor of France replaced 
the flag of Spain. 

December 20, 1803, was the date of the transfer to 
the United States. The American Commission met the 
French Commission in the Sala Capitular of the Hotel 
de Ville, or City Hall, as the French called the Cabildo. 
Governor Claiborne received the keys of the city, and 
the tricolor on the flagstaff gave way to the Stars and 
Stripes. A vast company of citizens watched the cere- 
monies, listened to the addresses, and looked at the 
American troops in the square, as well as at the French 
soldiers w^ho were to have no further power in the 
province. 

Grace King, in " New Orleans, the Place and the 
People," tells what followed : 

" When, twenty-one days before, the French flag was 
flung to the breeze, for its last brief reign in Louisiana, 
a band of fifty old soldiers formed themselves into a 
guard of honor, which was to act as a kind of death 
watch to their national colors. They stood now at the 
foot of the staff and received in their arms the Tricolor 
as it descended, and while the Americans were rending 



346 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

the air with their shouts, they marched silently away, 
their sergeant bearing it at their head. All uncovered 
before it ; the American troops, as they passed, presented 
arms to it. It was carried to the government house, 
and left in the hands of Laussat." 

During the years since that momentous transfer the 
Cabildo has continued to be the centre of historical in- 
terest in New Orleans. In 1825 Lafayette was quar- 
tered here. In 1901 President McKinley was received 
in the building. In 1903 the Centennial of the Louisiana 
Purchase was observed in the Sala Capitular, which had 
been for many years the meeting place of the State Su- 
preme Court. The great hall is almost as it was when 
the Cabildo of Don Almonaster met there. 

Since 1910 the Cabildo, in common with the Presby- 
tere, the old Civil District Court, a building of nearly 
the same age and appearance, located on the other side 
of the Cathedral, has been the Louisiana State Museum. 
The curios are shown in a large hall on the ground floor. 
x'Vmong these is the flag used by General Jackson at 
the battle of New Orleans. 

From this hall of relics a door leads to a courtyard, 
which is lined by tiers of gloomy cells. Stocks and 
other reminders of the old Spanish days are in evidence. 

The old Place d'Armes is now called Jackson Square. 
On either side are the Pontalba buildings, which were 
erected by the daughter of Don Andres Almonaster y 
Roxas, who inherited millions from her generous father. 
On the spot where the Stars and Stripes were raised in 
1803 is the statue to General Jackson, the victor of the 
battle of New Orleans, to which the same public-spirited 
woman was a large contributor. 

The tomb of Don Andres is shown in the Cathedral 



THKOUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 347 

he gave to the people, by the side of the Cabildo which 
he built for the city he loved. 



LXXIX 

THE ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 

"THERMOPYL^ HAD HER MESSENGER OF DEFEAT: 
THE ALAMO HAD NONE " 

Early in the eighteenth century the Spaniards built 
in Texas, then a part of Mexico, a number of staunch 
structures that were designed to serve not only as 
chapels but also as fortresses. The mission that at 
length became known as the Alamo was first built on 
the Rio Grande in 1710, and during the next forty-seven 
years was rebuilt four times in a new location, before it 
was given a final resting-place at San Antonio, on the 
banks of the Alazan River. There it was called Alamo, 
or Poplar Church. Though the Alamo was begun in 
1744, it was not completed until 1757. 

For nearly eighty years there was nothing specially 
notable about the building. Then came the events that 
made the name famous. 

In 1832 Sam Houston was sent to Texas by President 
Jackson to arrange treaties with the Indians for the 
protection of settlers on the border. Just at this time 
settlers in Texas, which was then a part of the state of 
Coahuila, were seeking equal privileges with the other 
Mexican states. Most of the settlers had come from 
the United States, and they hoped that in time Texas 
might become a part of that country. 



348 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

On February 13, 1833, Houston wrote to President 
Jackson that the time was ripe for getting hold of the 
country. Less than three months later he was asked 
to serve as a delegate to a constitutional convention, 
which demanded from Mexico the organization of the 
territory into states, and was made the chairman of the 
committee which drew up for the proposed states a 
constitution based on that of the United States. Ste- 
phen F. Austin, who has been called " The Father of 
Texas," went to Mexico City with the petition. But he 
was imprisoned, and the request of Texas was denied 
by Santa Anna, president of Mexico. 

Later, when the colonists attempted to defend them- 
selves against the Indians and other lawbreakers, the 
demand was made that they give up their arms. 

The organization of a provincial government followed 
in 1834, and Houston was chosen commander-in-chief of 
the army. The brief war with Mexico was marked by 
a number of heroic events, chief of which was the de- 
fence of the Alamo, where a small force of Texans re- 
sisted more than ten times the number of Mexicans. 

When the army of Santa Anna approached San 
Antonio, on February 22, 1836, one hundred and forty- 
five men, under the leadership of Colonel James Bowie 
and Lieutenant-Colonel William B. Travis, retired with- 
in the church fortress. For nearly two weeks these 
heroic men defended themselves, and the enemy did not 
gain entrance until every one of them was killed. 

The details of the heroic struggle were not known 
until 1860, when Captain R. M. Potter printed an ac- 
count in the San Antonio Herald, in which he had pa- 
tiently pieced together the reports that came to him 
through those whom he regarded most dependable 



THKOUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 349 

among the besiegers, and from one who was an officer 
in the garrison until within a few days of the assault. 

Within the walls a well had been dug on the very 
day the Mexican Army entered the town. Thus a plen- 
tiful supply of water supplemented the store of meat 
and corn for the defenders. 

A message sent out by Colonel Travis on the night of 
March 3 told of the events of the first days of the siege : 

" With a hundred and forty-five men I have held this 
place ten days against a force variously estimated from 
1,500 to 6,000, and I shall continue to hold it till I get 
relief from my countrymen, or I will perish in the at- 
tempt. We have had a shower of bombs and cannon- 
balls continually falling among us the whole time, yet 
none of us have fallen." 

Santa Anna led a final assault on March 6. Scaling 
ladders, axes, and fascines were to be in the hands of 
designated men. Five columns were to approach the 
wall just at daybreak. 

At the first onset Colonel Travis was killed and 
breaches were made in the walls. The outer walls and 
batteries were abandoned, and the defenders retired to 
the different rooms within. 

" From the doors, windows, and loopholes of the sev- 
eral rooms around the area the crack of the rifle and 
the hiss of the bullet came fierce and fast; as fast the 
enemy fell and recoiled in his first efforts to charge. 
The gun beside which Travis fell was now turned against 
the buildings, as were also some others, and shot after 
shot was sent crashing through the doors and barricades 
of the several rooms. Each ball was followed by a storm 
of musketry and a charge; and thus room after room 
was carried at the point of the bayonet, when all within 
them had died fighting to the last. The struggle was 



350 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

made up of a number of separate and desperate combats, 
often hand to band, between squads of the garrison and 
bodies of the enemy. The bloodiest spot about the fort 
was the long barrack and the ground in front of it, 
where the enemy fell in heaps." 

David Crockett was among those who were killed in 
one of the rooms. He had joined the defenders a few 
days before the beginning of the siege. 

The chapel was the last point taken. " Once the 
enemy in possession of the large area, the guns could be 
turned to fire into the door of the church, only from fifty 
to a hundred yards off. The inmates of the last strong- 
hold fought to the last, and continued to fire down from 
the upper works after the enemy occupied the floor. 
Towards the close of the struggle Lieutenant Dicken- 
son, with his child in his arms, or, as some accounts say, 
tied to his back, leaped from the east embrasure of the 
chapel, and both were shot in the act. Of those he left 
behind him the bayonet soon gleaned what the bullet 
had left; and in the upper part of that edifice the last 
defender must have fallen." 

This final assault lasted only thirty minutes. In that 
time the defenders of Texas won immortal fame. Four 
days before, the Republic of Texas had been proclaimed. 
Those who fell in the Alamo were hailed the heroes of 
the struggle. " Remember the Alamo ! " was the battle 
cry of the war for independence that was waged until 
the Mexican Army was routed at San Jacinto, April 
21, 1836. 

On the capitol grounds at Austin, Texas, stands a 
monument to the heroes of the Alamo, with the inscrip- 
tion : " Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat ; the 
'Alamo had none." 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 351 

LXXX 

THE HERMITAGE, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 

ANDREW JACKSON'S RETREAT IN THE INTERVALS OF 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICE 

Andrew Jackson was a pioneer. From North Caro- 
lina he crossed the mountains to what was then the 
Western District. He was a lawyer, but he wanted to 
be a farmer also. His first land purchase was made 
in 1791. This land was lost in the effort to pay the 
debts of another. 

The second effort at farming was more successful. 
This was begun in 1804, when he bought a tract of some 
twenty-eight thousand acres, six thousand acres of 
which he retained permanently as the Hermitage plan- 
tation. From the beginning he showed that he had a 
genius for farming. Crops were large, and his wealth 
grew rapidly, until he became the wealthiest man in all 
that country. After a few years he became famous as 
a breeder of race horses. He owned a track of his own 
not far from the mansion. 

For fifteen years Mr. and Mrs. Jackson lived in a 
log cabin. But they maintained a large establishment. 
They had their slaves, and they drove in a carriage 
drawn by four horses. And they entertained royally. 
Jackson's biographer, James Parton, tells of a Nash- 
ville lady who said that she had often been at the Her- 
mitage " when there were in each of the four available 
rooms not a guest merely, but a family, while the young 
men and solitary travellers who chanced to drop in dis- 



352 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

posed themselves on the piazza, or any other shelter 
about the house." 

The log house was still the plantation-house when 
General Jackson's neighbors gathered to welcome him 
home as the victor of New Orleans. In the response he 
gave to their greeting he made a prophecy : 

" Years will continue to develop our inherent quali- 
ties, until, from being the youngest and the weakest, we 
shall become the most powerful nation in the universe." 

General Jackson was popular with all in the neigh- 
borhood of the plantation. To his slaves he was a hero. 
To his wife he was devoted. Parton says that he always 
treated her as if she was his pride and glory. And 
words can faintly describe her devotion to him. She 
also was popular among the servants; her treatment of 
them was courteous in the extreme. A visitor to the 
Hermitage told of being present at the hour of evening 
devotions. Just before these began the wife of the over- 
seer came into the room. Mrs. Jackson rose and made 
room for her on the sofa. One of the guests expressed 
her surprise to a lady sitting next her. " That is the 
way here," the lady whispered, " and if she had not done 
it, the General would." 

Peter Cartwright, the famous pioneer preacher, told 
in his Autobiography an incident that revealed the Gen- 
eral's nature. Cartwright was preaching, when the 
pastor of a church, who was with him in the pulpit, 
leaned forward and whispered, " General Jackson has 
just come in." The outspoken preacher replied, so that 
every one could hear : " What is that if General Jack- 
son has come in? In the eyes of God he is no bigger 
than any other man ! " After the service Jackson told 




THE HERMITAGE, NASHVILLE, TEXN. 



Photo h;/ ]VilLS,yashiHlle 
See page 351 



•;^- :-« 










•rr'-'T'i'''' "^Hi m«in-«— ijgitin ■ i i .„ . 



ASHLAND, LEXIX(;T0\, KY. 



P/ioto by E. C. Hall 
See page 355 




SPORTSMAN S HALL, WHITLEY S STATUJN. KY. 



Photu hu Misa M. E. Sucre, StnnJunI, Ky. 
See page 359 




WHITE HAVEN, ST. LOUIS 



Photo furnished by Albert Wenzlick 
See page 362 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 353 

Mr. Cartwright of his hearty approval of the sentiment. 

That there might be more room for entertaining pass- 
ing strangers like Mr. Cartwright, as well as hosts of 
friends, Jackson began to build The Hermitage in 1819, 
of brick made on the plantation. When this house was 
burned in 1836, a new house was built on the old foun- 
dation, and with the same general plan. The building 
has the rather unusual length of 104 feet. Six pillars 
support the roof in front and in rear. 

Between the building of the first house and its suc- 
cessor came most of Jackson's political career. During 
this period also was the visit of General Lafayette. On 
this occasion the Frenchman, recognizing the pair of 
pistols which he had given to Washington in 1778, said 
that he had a real satisfaction in finding them in the 
hands of one so worthy of possessing them. " Yes, I 
believe myself to be worthy of them," Jackson began his 
reply, in words that seemed far less modest than the 
conclusion proved them ; for he added : " if not for what 
I have done, at least for what I wished to do, for my 
country." 

The Hermitage never seemed the same place to Jack- 
son after the death of his wife, on December 22, 1828, 
only a few days after his first election to the presidency. 

Two years after his final return from Washington, 
after attending service at the little Presbyterian church 
on the estate, he begged the pastor, Dr. Edgar, to return 
home with him. The pastor was unable to accept, but 
promised to be on hand early in the morning. All night 
the General read and prayed. Next morning, when Dr. 
Edgar came, he asked to be admitted to the Church. 

Parton says that from this time to the end of his life 
" General Jackson spent most of his leisure hours in 



354 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

reading the Bible, Biblical commentaries, and the hymn- 
book, which last he always pronounced in the old-fash- 
ioned way, hime-hook. The work known as ' Scott's 
Bible' was his chief delight; he read it through twice 
before he died. Nightly he read prayers in the presence 
of his family and household servants." 

Soon after he united with the Church, the congrega- 
tion wished to choose him to the office of elder. " No," 
he said, " I am too young in the Church for such an 
office. My countrymen have given me high honors, but 
I should esteem the office of ruling elder in the Church 
of Christ a far higher honor than any I have ever 
received." 

For six years he continued to be an unofficial member 
of the church. Then, on June 8, 1845, he said to those 
who had gathered about his death-bed : " I am my God's. 
I belong to Him. I go but a short time before you, and 
I want to meet you all, white and black, in heaven." 

Less than two months before his death, when the 
President and Directors of the National Institute pro- 
posed that an imported sarcophagus in their possession 
be set apart for his last resting-place, he declined, be- 
cause he wished to lie by the side of his wife, in the 
garden of The Hermitage. 

Until 1888 Andrew Jackson, Jr., and after his death, 
his widow occupied the house, during the last thirty- 
two years of this period as caretakers for the State, 
which had bought the property for |48,000. Since 1889 
the mansion and twenty-five acres of ground have been 
cared for by the Ladies' Hermitage Association. 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 355 

LXXXI 

ASHLAND, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY 

THE HOME OF HENRY CLAY FOR FORTY-SIX YEARS 

Henry Clay's mother, having married Captain Henry 
Watkins, moved from Hanover, Virginia, to Woodford 
County, Kentucky, in 1792. As soon as the future 
statesman was admitted to practice in the Virginia 
Court of Appeals, he decided to follow her. Accord- 
ingly, in November, 1797, he became a resident of Lex- 
ington. Three years later the Kentucke Gazette, the 
first paper published west of the mountains, told of " an 
eloquent oration " that was " delivered by Henry Clay, 
Esquire." 

The year before the young lawyer received this flat- 
tering notice he married Lavinia Hart, of Lexington. 
Seven years were spent in rented quarters, but in 1806 
he purchased an estate about a mile and a half from 
town. 

Clay took the keenest pleasure in the estate. Once he 
wrote to a friend : 

" I am in one respect better off than Moses. He died 
in sight of and without reaching the Promised Land. 1 
occupy as good a farm as any he would have found had 
he reached it, and '■ Ashland ' has been acquired not by 
hereditary descent but by my own labor." 

However, it was only at intervals that the proud 
owner was able to enjoy Ashland. After 1803 the 
longest period of residence was six years, and this was 
toward the close of his life. 



356 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

The management of tlie property was largely in the 
hands of Mrs. Clay, and the prosperity of the plantation 
was proof of her capability. From Washington he 
wrote frequently of things he would like to see done. 
He was especially interested in blooded stock which he 
secured in the East and abroad. Once he wrote proudly 
of the fact that there were on the estate specimens of 
" the Maltese ass, the Arabian horse, the Merino and 
Saxe Merino sheep, the English Hereford and Durham 
cattle, the goat, the mule and the hog." His race horses 
were famous, and he delighted to handle them himself. 
He also liked to feed the pigs, even when he was an old 
man. 

There were many slaves at Ashland, and they were 
all attached to their master. His will provided for their 
emancipation, under wise conditions. Once, when a 
friend bequeathed him twenty-five slaves, he sent them 
to Liberia, by way of New Orleans. 

Harriet Martineau, who visited Ashland in 1835, told 
of her pleasant impression of the place and its owner : 

" I stayed some weeks in the house of a wealthy land- 
owner in Kentucky. Our days were passed in great lux- 
ury, and the hottest of them very idly. The house was 
in the midst of grounds gay with verdure and flowers, 
in the opening month of June, and our favorite seats 
were the steps of the hall, and chairs under the trees. 
From there we could watch the play of the children on 
the grass plot, and some of the drolleries of the little 
negroes. . . . There were thirty-three horses in the 
stables, and we roved about the neighboring country 
accordingly. ..." 

As the years passed visitors flocked to Ashland in 
ever-increasing numbers. Many of them were politi- 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 357 

cians, but more were plain people who were devoted to 
Clay and could not understand why the country refused 
to elect him President. In 1844, during his longest 
period of continuous residence at Ashland, he received 
word of the disappointing result of the election. After 
a few days, when he was walking on the turnpike near 
the house, he was startled by a woman who, on passing 
him, burst into tears. When he asked her why she wept, 
she said : 

" I have lost my father, my husband, and my children, 
and passed through other painful trials ; but all of them 
together have not given me so much sorrow as the late 
disappointment of your friends." 

A story is also told of a bride and groom who visited 
Ashland on the day the news of defeat was received. 
The journey was continued down the Mississippi River. 
On the boat the groom was taken seriously ill. The 
physician who was called to attend him was puzzled to 
define the ailment until the bride said that the cause 
was the defeat of Henry Clay. The old doctor threw 
his arms about the patient's neck and cried, " There is 
no cure for a complaint like that." 

The sting of defeat was forgotten one day in 1845. 
Mr. Clay was in his bank in Lexington, prepared to pay 
a part of the indebtedness that had all but swamped 
him, so that he felt he might have to sacrifice Ashland. 
The bank told him that about |50,000 had been deposited 
in the bank by his friends from all parts of the country, 
enough to pay all his debts. He never knew the names 
of the generous friends who had made possible the re- 
tention of the property. 

He thought he was to spend the remainder of his days 



358 HISTORIC SHEIIJ^ES OF AMEEICA 

at home^ and that lie would die there in peace. One 
day lie said, in an address in Lexington, " I felt like an 
old stag which has been long coursed by the hunters 
and the hounds, through brakes and briars, and over 
distant plains, and has at last returned to his ancient 
lair to lay himself down and die." 

Again in 1S48 he tasted defeat, though on this oc- 
casion it was in the nominating conyention, not in the 
election. In the trying days that followed he was sus- 
tained by his Christian faith. He had been baptized in 
the parlor at Ashland on June 22, 1S4:T. The reality 
of his religious convictions was seen one day by what he 
said to a company of friends who had been talking in a 
despairing manner of the future of the country. Point- 
ing to the Bible on the table, he said, '* Gentlemen, I 
do not know anything but that Book which can reconcile 
us to such events.** 

In 1849 Clay was sent to the United States Senate 
because the legislature of Kentucky felt that he was 
needed to help in the solution of questions raised by the 
Mexican War. He spent three years in Washington, 
then died in the midst of his work. After a journey 
that showed what a place he had won in the hearts of 
the people, his body was taken to Lexington. The cata- 
falque lay in state in Ashland over one night. Next 
day the body was buried near Lexington. 

His son, James B. Clay, who purchased the estate 
at auction, tore down the house because of its weakened 
foundations, but rebuilt it of the same materials, on the 
old site, and on almost the identical plans. Both out- 
side and inside the mansion has practically the appear- 
ance of the original. 

Before the Civil War 'Ashland was purchased by the 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 359 

State College, but in 1882 it became the property of 
Major Henry Clay McDowell, whose widow lived there 
for many years. She was the daughter of Henry Clay, 
Jr., whose death at the Battle of Buena Vista was a 
sore blow to one who was always a fond father. 



LXXXII 

SPORTSMAN'S HALL, WHITLEY'S STATION, 
KENTUCKY 

THE HOME OF THE MAN WHO KILLED TECUMSEH 

" Then, Billy, if I was you, I would go and see ! " 

Thus replied Esther Whitley of Augusta, Virginia, 
to her husband William Whitley, when, early in 1775, 
he had told her that he had a fine report of Kentucky, 
and that he thought they could get their living in the 
frontier settlements wdth less hard work than was re- 
quired in Virginia. 

Whitley took his wife at her word. Two days later, 
with axe and plow and gun and kettle, he was on his 
way over the mountains. Daniel Boone had not yet 
marked out the Wilderness Road that was to become 
the great highway of emigration from Virginia to Ken- 
tucky. At first his only companion was his brother-in- 
law, George Clark, but on the way seven others joined 
the party. 

During the next six years he was one of the trusted 
pioneers at Boonesborough and Harrod's Fort, two sta- 
tions on the Wilderness Road. When he had a house 



360 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

ready for his wife, lie returned to Virginia, and brought 
her to Kentucky. It is said that she was the third white 
woman to cross the Cumberland Mountains, Mrs. Daniel 
Boone and her daughter being the first and second. The 
claim has been made that their daughter, Louisa, who 
was born in Boonesborough, was the first white child 
born in the present limits of Kentucky. 

Louisa was perhaps four years old when Whitley re- 
moved to the vicinity of Crab Orchard, the famous as- 
sembling place for parties about to take the dangerous 
journey back to Virginia, Two miles from the settle- 
ment he built Whitley's Fort. In 1788 he felt able to 
build for his growing family the first brick house in 
Kentucky. The brick were brought from Virginia, and 
the man who laid the brick was given a farm of five 
hundred acres for his services. The windows were 
placed high above the ground to prevent the Indians 
from shooting in at the occupants. The window-glass 
was carried across the mountains in pack-saddles. The 
stairway had twenty-one steps, and on these steps were 
carved the heads of thirteen eagles to represent the orig- 
inal thirteen Colonies. The doors were made of wood, 
elaborately carved, and were in two layers, a heavy sheet 
of iron being placed between these. The old-time 
leather hinges are still in use. 

The owner laid out on his property the first race track 
in Kentucky, and he called his house Sportsman's Hall. 
In its walls scores of settlers found refuge in time of 
danger. Famous men sat with Mr. and Mrs. Whitley 
at their hospitable table, among these being Daniel 
Boone, George Rogers Clark, and General Harrison. 

Until his death at the battle of the Thames in 1813 
Whitley was one of the chief defenders of the settlers 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 361 

against the Indians. On his powder horn he cut the 
lines : 

William Whitley, I am your home, 
The truth I love, a lie I scorne, 
Fill me with the best of powder, 
I '11 make your rifle crack the louder. 

See how the dread, terrifick ball 
Makes Indians blench at Toreys fall, 
You with powder I'll supply 
For to defend your liberty. 

One day in 1785 a messenger came to Whitley's Fort 
with the tidings that Indians had captured a mother and 
her babe, after killing three older children. Mr. Whit- 
ley was not at home, but Mrs. Whitley sent for him. In 
the meantime she collected a company of twenty res- 
cuers. On his return Whitley placed himself at their 
head, pursued the Indians, and rescued the prisoners. 

The title Colonel was given to Whitley in 1794, when 
he commanded the Nickerjack expedition against the 
Tennessee Indians, who had been conducting foraging 
expeditions into Kentucky. The march was conducted 
with such secrecy and despatch that the enemy were 
taken by surprise, and were completely routed. 

The last of his campaigns took place in Canada 
against the British, French, and Indians in 1813. Many 
claim that before he received his mortal wound in the 
battle of the Thames, he fired the shot that killed Tecum- 
seh, the chief who had given so much trouble to the 
settlers of Kentucky and Indiana. Others say that the 
shot was fired by a Colonel Johnson. 

The body of the Indian fighter rests in an unknown 
grave hundreds of miles from the territory he helped 



362 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

to wrest from the Indians, but the brick house he built 
near Crab Orchard is still one of the historic buildings 
of Kentucky. 



LXXXIII 

WHITE HAVEN, NEAR ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 

WHERE ULYSSES S. GRANT COURTED JULIA DENT 

Immediately after Ulysses Simpson Grant graduated 
from West Point, he was sent to Jefferson Barracks, at 
St. Louis. His military duties were not so arduous 
that he was unable to accept the invitation of Fred 
Dent, a former roommate at West Point, to go with him 
to the Dent homestead on the Gravois Road, four miles 
from the Barracks. 

The young second lieutenant did not have to be urged 
to repeat his visit. In fact he went so often that the 
road between the Barracks and the Dent farm became 
as familiar to him as his old haunts on the banks of the 
Hudson. He did not meet Julia Dent at first, for she 
was absent at school, but he found enough attraction in 
a sister to make him a frequent visitor. 

Then came the eventful day when he met seventeen- 
year-old Julia. The courtship was by no means a long- 
drawn-out affair; the young people were engaged before 
Grant was ordered to the Mexican border, though the 
fact was not announced until his return to St. Louis in 
May, 1845. The marriage took place in August, 1848, 
after the close of the Mexican War. 

For some years Mrs. Grant was a soldier's wife. 



THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 363 

Grant took her with him to Detroit, but he left her at 
her old home in St. Louis when he was transferred to 
the Pacific Coast. In 1853 he accepted a commission as 
captain, which he soon resigned, determining to return 
to the East. Several unfortunate speculations had left 
him without funds, and he was indebted to a friend in 
San Francisco for transportation. 

" I rejoined my family to find in it a son whom I had 
never seen, born while I was on the Isthmus of 
Panama," Grant said in his "Personal Memoirs." " I 
was now to commence, at the age of thirty-two, a new 
struggle for our support. My wife had a farm near St. 
Louis, to which we went, but I had no means to stock it. 
A house had to be built also. I worked very hard, never 
losing a day because of bad weather, and accomplished 
the object in a moderate way." 

After working as a farm laborer for a time, he built 
a cabin on sixty acres piven to Mrs. Grant by her father. 
" Hardscrabble," as he called the four-room log house, 
was the home of the Grant family for several years. 
This cabin, which was on the grounds of the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, and White Haven, 
must both be counted homes of the family at this period. 
Fred, Nellie, and Jesse Grant were all born in White 
Haven. 

Ready money was scarce, but the father of a growing 
family felt the necessity of providing for their wants. 
" If nothing else could be done I would load a cord of 
wood on a wagon and take it to the city for sale," he 
wrote in his Memoirs. " I managed to keep along 
very well until 1858, when I was attacked by fever and 
ague. I had suffered very severely and for a long time 
from the disease while a boy in Ohio. It lasted nowj 



364 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

over a year, and, while it did not keep me in the house, 
it did interfere greatly with the amount of work I was 
able to perform. In the fall of 1858 I sold out my stock, 
crops and farming utensils at auction, and gave up 
farming." 

The family remained at White Haven for a time, and 
Grant tried to make a living in the real estate business. 
His partner was a cousin of Mrs. Grant. The income of 
the business was not sufficient for two families, so he 
soon gave up the attempt. " He doesn't seem to be just 
calculated for business, but an honester, more generous 
man never lived," was the remark of one who knew him 
at this time. 

In the meantime he had taken his family to St. Louis. 
He made one further attempt to support them there. 
Learning that there was a vacancy in the office of clounty 
engineer, he applied for the position, but the appoint- 
ment was to be made by the members of the county 
court, and he did not have sufficient influence to secure 
it. So the move to Galena, Illinois, in May, 1860, be- 
came necessary. There, in the leather business, he 
earned but eight hundred dollars a year. And he had 
a family of six to feed. 

A year later he responded to the call of President 
Lincoln, and began the army service that made him 
famous. 

White Haven was built in 1808 by Captain John 
Long, who had won his title during the Revolution. 
Later the house and three hundred acres of the original 
farm were sold to Frederick Dent, who, at one period, 
had ninety slaves in the slave quarters still to be seen 
at the rear of the house. 

Through Mrs. Grant the entire property came into the 



.THROUGH THE SUNNY SOUTH 365 

possession of General Grant. At the time of the failure 
of Grant & Ward, the farm was pledged to William H. 
Vanderbilt, who sold it to Captain Fuller H. Conn of 
St. Louis. Captain Conn disposed of it in a number 
of parcels. One of these, containing fifteen acres and 
the old homestead, was purchased by Albert Wenzlick, 
who makes his summer home in the house where Ulysses 
S. Grant met Julia Dent. 



EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO 
NEW ENGLAND 



In verdurous tumult far away 

The prairie billoics gleam, 
Upon their crests in blessing rests 
The noontide's gracious beam. 
Low quivering vapors steaming dim 
The level splendors break 
Where languid lilies deck the rim 
Of some land-circled lake. 

Far in the east like loiv-hung clouds 

The loaving woodlands lie; 
Far in the west the glowing plain 

Melts icarmly in the sky. 
No accent wounds the reverent air, . . 

No footprint dints the sod, — 1 1 

Lone in the light the prairie lies, ' I 

Wrapt in a dream of God. 



John Hat. 



EIGHT: ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 



LXXXIV 

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, 
ILLINOIS 

FROM WHICH PRESIDENT-ELECT LINCOLN WENT TO 
WASHINGTON IN 1861 

When Abraham Lincoln entered Springfield, in 1837, 
he did not own a house; in fact he did not own much 
of anything. Joshua Speed is quoted by Ida Tarbell 
thus: 

" He had ridden into town on a borrowed horse, with 
no earthly property save a pair of saddle-bags contain- 
ing a few clothes. . . . Lincoln came into the store with 
his saddle-bags on his arm. He said he wanted to buy 
the furniture for a single bed. The mattress, blankets, 
sheets, coverlid, and pillow . . . would cost seventeen 
dollars. He said that perhaps was cheap enough; but 
small as the price was, he was unable to pay it. But if 
I would credit him till Christmas, and his experiment 
as a lawyer was a success, he would pay then, saying in 
the saddest tone, ' If I fail in this I do not know that 
I can ever pay you.' " 

The storekeeper thereupon proposed that the young 
lawyer should share his own room above the store. Lin- 
coln promptly accepted, went upstairs, and in a moment 

369 



370 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

was down again. With dry humor he said : " Well, 
Speed, I am moved." 

Lincoln longed for better quarters, however, because 
he wanted to be married. He watched with interest the 
new buildings that were going up, probably reflecting 
sadly that none of them were for him. In his discour- 
agement he wrote to Miss Mary Owen of New Salem, 
to whom he had said something about coming to live 
with him in Springfield : 

" You would have to be poor, without the means of 
hiding your poverty. Do you believe you could bear 
that patiently? Whatever woman may cast her lot with 
mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all 
in my power to make her happy and contented. And 
there is nothing I can imagine that would make me more 
unhappy than to fail in the effort. I know I should be 
much happier with you than the way I am, provided I 
saw no sign of discontent in you." 

Miss Owen declined to go to Springfield, because she 
felt that Lincoln was " deficient in those little links 
which make up the chain of a woman's happiness." 

Five years later, on November 4, 1842, Lincoln mar- 
ried Miss Mary Todd, a member of a prominent Ken- 
tucky family, who had come to Springfield in 1839 to 
live with her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards. The 
house in which she spent the three years before her mar- 
riage was one of the handsomest in the town, and was 
a centre of social gayety. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards op- 
posed the marriage to the poor and plebeian lawyer; 
they urged the folly of exchanging a cultured home for 
the surroundings to which Lincoln would take her. But 
she knew her own mind, and she went with Lincoln to 
the home he provided for her. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN S HOI'SK, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 



/•/,,.;-- bijE. ('. Hall 
See page 369 




Photu furnished by Fran!: II. Curtis, \'inccnne.-i 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON S HOUSE, VINCENNES, INU. 



See page 370 




RUFUS PUTNAM S HOUSE, MARIETTA, O. 



Photo furnished by Miss Witlia D. Cotton, Marietta 

See page 377 




THE SCHUYLER MANSION, ALBANY, N. Y. 



Photo furnished Ity Jli. 



m 

Martin It. (Itunn. Mliaiiy 
See page 391 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 371 

The character of the accommodations to which he took 
his bride is revealed by a letter written in May, 1843: 
" We are not keeping house, but boarding at the Globe 
Tavern. . . . Boarding only costs four dollars a 
week." 

But the day came when the young statesman was able 
to open for Mrs. Lincoln the door of their own modest 
one-story house. Later a second story was added under 
the direction of his wife, most of the work being done 
while he was away from home, riding the circuit. 

J. G. Holland's pleasing picture of life in the home 
during the years from 1850 to 1860 should be remem- 
bered : 

" It was to him a time of rest, of reading, of social 
happiness, and of professional prosperity. He was al- 
ready a father, and took an almost unbounded delight in 
his children. The most that he could say to any rebel 
in his household was, ' You break my heart, when you 
act like this.' A young man bred in Springfield speaks 
of a vision that has clung to his memory very vividly. 
. . . His way to school led by the lawyer's door. On 
almost any fair summer morning he could find Mr. Lin- 
coln on the sidewalk in front of his house, drawing a 
child backward and forward, in a child's gig. Without 
hat or coat, and wearing a pair of rough shoes, his hands 
behind him holding on to the tongue of the gig, and his 
tall form bent forward to accommodate himself to the 
service, he paced up and down the walk forgetful of 
everything around him. The young man says he remem- 
bers wondering how so rough and plain a man should 
live in so respectable a house." 

Once Lincoln was sitting on the porch when three- 
year-old Willie escaped from the bathtub, ran out of the 
house and the gate, up the street, and into a field. There 



372 HISTOEIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

his father caught him, and carried him home on his 
shoulder. 

The children liked to ride on his shoulder, and they 
clambered for the position. If they could not get there, 
they contented themselves with hanging to his coat tails. 
One day a neighbor heard the boys crying, and asked 
what was the matter. " Just what's the matter with 
the whole world," was Lincoln's reply. " I've got three 
walnuts, and each wants two." 

During the last day of the Republican Convention of 
1860, which was in session in Chicago, Lincoln was in 
the office of the Springfield Journal, receiving word of 
the progress of events. A messenger came in and said 
to him, " The Convention has made a nomination, and 
Mr. Seward is — the second man on the list ! " After 
reading the telegram, and receiving the congratulations 
of all in the office, Lincoln spoke of the little woman on 
Eighth Street who had some interest in the matter, and 
said he would go home and tell her the news. 

When the news became generally known, the citizens 
followed him to the house on Eighth Street. In the 
evening, after a meeting in the State House, the Repub- 
licans present marched to the Lincoln home. The 
nominee made a speech, and invited as many as could 
get in to enter the house. " After the fourth of March 
w^e will give you a larger house," came the laughing 
response. 

Next day Lincoln was in a quandary. Some of his 
friends had sent him a present of wines and other 
liquors, that he might be able to give what they thought 
would be appropriate refreshment to the Committee sent 
from Chicago to notify the nominee. Before the formal 
notification, Lincoln asked the members what he should 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 373 

do with the wine. J. G. Holland says that " the chair- 
man at once advised him to return the gift, and to offer 
no stimulants to his guests." 

A few years later, when he had closed the house which 
he was never to enter again, he said to his friends, who 
had gathered at the train to say good-bye : 

" My friends : no one, not in my situation, can appre- 
ciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this 
place, and the kindness of these people, I owe every- 
thing. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and 
have passed from a young to an old man. Here my chil- 
dren have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, 
not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with 
a task before me greater than that which rested upon 
Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine 
Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With 
that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who 
can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere 
for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. 
To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers 
you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate fare- 
well." 

When the body of the martyred President was brought 
back to Springfield on May 3, 1865, it was not taken to 
the old home on Eighth Street, but to the State Capitol, 
and from there to Oak Ridge Cemetery. 

The house is now the property of the State of Illinois, 
the gift of Robert T. Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son. 



S» iHMlMBIC 3Ha^g3l%i» ~C!F ^i 









iC- "^Tim -wst 5ii 2' -g^ iKir "511^3: lESC 



iaHt "H* 51 *3r -aft ii" _* 25ai*2!iC 






ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 375 

the Eevolntion br the brilliant exx^loit of George Rogers 
Clarke, who took it from the BritLsh after an approach 
acrosjj IllinoL« and through the flooded valley of the 
Wabaiih, for which he will ever be remembered bj a 
grateful countrr. 

For thirteen years he was the autocrat in his remote 
outpoftt. To him were committe^l, in company with the 
Judge, all legislative powers; he was commander-in- 
chief of the militia, and he had the power of treaty- 
making with the Indians. His signature l>ecame a valid 
title to lands in the Indian country. His care of the 
interests committed to him wa* so satisfactory that the 
legislature of Indiana asked for his rf^appointment. He 
was efipeciaJIy successful in dealing with the Indians, 
The victory at Tippecanoe became a ralhing cry when, 
in 1%39, he was nominated for the Presidency. 

One of the most notable events of his carf:;ft;r as Gov- 
ernor took place l>efore his hous^i at Vincennes, The 
Indian warrior Tecumseh, claiming that lands ceded by 
other triljes belonged to his own tril>e, threatened venge- 
ance on any who should attempt to settle on thr^se 
lands. General Harrw^n s^^nt for him^ promising trj 
give him a careful hearing and full justice. Accord- 
ingly, in AugTJst, 1810, Te^rums^^h f:ame to V'incennfis, 
accompanied by s^rrveral hundr^^^j wan-iors. The m^^it' 
ing of the Govf^mor and the Indians tfx>k place in front 
of the fffhf:\2i[ rfisidence. At one point in the conference, 
Tecums^h, ^ ' \ gave a signal to bis warriors, 

who sei:&ed . tomiihawks. and war club:- and 

sprang to their feet 

The Governor rose r^alrnly from bis armcliair. drew his 
rword. and fac^d the «»vage. His l><-aring overawed the 
Indians, and when he t^^ld Tecumsfih that he could liave 



376 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

no further conference with such a bad man, the chief 
and his supporters returned to their camp. 

The house that looked down on this scene was prob- 
ably the first house of burned brick built west of the 
Alleghenies. It was erected in 1804, at a cost of about 
twenty thousand dollars. 

The walls of the basement are twenty-four inches 
thick; the upper walls are eighteen inches thick. The 
outer walls are of hard red brick. The doors, sash, man- 
tels, and stairs are of black walnut, and are said to have 
been made in Pittsburgh. 

The basement contains the dining-room, the kitchen, 
in which hangs the old-fashioned crane, a storeroom in 
which the supplies of powder and arms were kept, and 
four servants' bedrooms. At one side of the large cellar 
is the entrance to a tunnel which led to the banks of 
the Wabash, some six hundred feet distant. This was 
built, so tradition says, that the Governor and his fam- 
ily, if too closely pressed by Indians, might escape to 
the river and continue their flight in canoes. This 
would be useful also for the carrying in of water and 
food during a siege. 

On the first floor a commodious hallway communi- 
cates on the left with the Council Chamber, where 
notable visitors were received. This was also the cham- 
ber of early territorial lawmakers. Here, in 1805, by 
Rev. Thomas Clelland, was preached the first Presby- 
terian sermon in what is now the State of Indiana. 

In the shutter of a room facing the rear is the mark 
of a bullet which, it is said, was fired by an Indian who 
was attempting the life of the Governor, while that of- 
ficial was walking the floor with his little son in his 
arms. 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 377 

To-day the house is cut off from the city by railroad 
tracks and is surrounded by factories. Until 1916 it 
was owned by the Vincennes Water Company, which 
proposed to raze it to the ground, that they might have 
room for extension. Learning of this purpose, six mem- 
bers of the Francis Vigo Chapter of the Daughters of 
the American Revolution begged the City Council to 
buy the house and preserve it. When the Council an- 
nounced that the way was not open to do this, a number 
of patriotic women, led by Mrs. Frank W. Curtis, raised 
the sum necessary for the purchase of the property. 

Under the direction of the Francis Vigo Chapter, the 
house has been restored, and opened for visitors. It is 
the intention to maintain it for the inspiration of those 
who visit Vincennes to look on the scene of the wise 
labors of the first Governor of the Indian Territory. 



LXXXVI 

THE HOUSE OF GENERAL RUPUS PUTNAM, 
MARIETTA, OHIO 

THE MAN WHO LED THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS 
TO OHIO 

In 1775 General Washington decided that he must 
fortify Dorchester Heights, Boston, if he was to force 
the British to leave the country. But how was he to do 
this? The ground was frozen to a depth of eighteen 
inches, and the enemy's cannon commanded the coveted 
position. Lieutenant Colonel Putnam told the General 
that the seemingly impossible task could be performed. 



378 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Washington was dubious, but he had learned that Col- 
onel Putnam was to be counted on. One night, after 
dark, the work was begun, and before daylight it was so 
far completed that the surprised enemy were compelled 
to retire. 

In recognition of services like this. Colonel Putnam 
was made a brigadier general. A reward even greater 
was his; he won the lasting friendship of Washington. 

Eight years after the fortification of Dorchester 
Heights, two hundred and eighty-three officers asked 
Congress for a grant of land in the western country. 
General Putnam forwarded the petition to Washington, 
and urged that it be granted, in order that " the country 
between Lake Erie and the Ohio might be filled with in- 
habitants, and the faithful subjects of the United States 
so established on the waters of the Ohio and on the lakes 
as to banish forever the idea of our western territory 
falling under the dominion of any European power," 

Action by Congress was delayed. On June 2, 1784, 
Washington wrote to Putnam : 

" I wish it was in my power to give you a more favor- 
able account of the officers' petition for lands on the 
Ohio and its water, than I am about to do. . . . For 
surely if justice and gratitude to the army, and general 
policy of the Union were to govern in the case, there 
would not be the smallest interruption in granting the 
request." 

Putnam did not lose heart. His next step, taken in 
January, 1786, was to call a meeting of officers and sol- 
diers and others to form an Ohio Company. The meet- 
ing was held at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, in Boston, 
March 1, 1786, and the Ohio Company of Associates was 
duly formed. It was agreed to raise a fund to purchase 



*- 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 379 

from Congress, for purposes of settlement, the western 
lands which Congress had been asked to give them. 

On July 27, 1787, a tract of 1,500,000 acres on the 
Ohio River, between the Scioto and the Muskingum 
rivers, was sold to the Company at sixty-six and two- 
thirds cents per acre. Half the amount was paid down. 
When, later, it became impossible to pay the remainder. 
Congress gave a measure of relief. 

The first emigrants to go to the new lands set out 
from Danvers, Massachusetts, December 1, 1787, under 
the guidance of General Rufus Putnam, while a second 
party started from Hartford, Connectcut, January 1, 
1788. The first party of twenty-two men followed the 
Indian trail over the Allegheny Mountains and reached 
the Youghiogheny River, on January 23, 1788, while 
the second party of twenty-eight men, making better 
time, joined them on February 14. Then a barge, 
called the Mayfloioer, was built, forty-six feet long and 
twelve feet wide. A cabin was provided for the women 
of the party, and an awning was stretched. The men 
propelled the boat with ten oars. 

On April 1 the voyage to the Ohio was begun, and on 
April 7 the party reached the mouth of the Muskingum. 
The barge was moored to the bank, opposite Fort Har- 
mar. Thus came the Massachusetts pioneers to the 
town of which Washington wrote later : " No colony in 
America was ever settled under such favorable auspices 
as that which has just commenced at Muskingum. In- 
formation, property, and strength will be its character- 
istics. I know many of the settlers personally, and 
there never were men better calculated to promote the 
welfare of such a community." 

Here the pioneers laid out the town of Marietta 



380 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

among the famous Indian mounds, naming it in honor 
of Marie Antoinette of France. The greatest mound of 
all was made the central feature of Marie Antoinette 
Square. This mound is thirty feet high, while the cir- 
cular base is 375 feet in circumference. It is surrounded 
by a moat fifteen feet wide and five feet deep. Beyond 
the moat is a parapet twenty feet thick and 385 feet in 
circumference. This square was leased to General Put- 
nam for twelve years, on condition that he " surround 
the whole square with mulberry trees with an elm at 
each corner." The base of the mound was to be encircled 
with weeping willow^s, and evergreens were to be placed 
on the mound. The parapet was to be surrounded with 
trees, the square was to be seeded down to grass, and 
the whole was to be enclosed with a post and rail fence. 
This effort to create a park at the very beginning was 
an unusual feature of this pioneer experience. 

An enclosure of logs, with a log fort at each corner, 
was built for protection against the Indians. Between 
the corner forts were the cabins occupied by the various 
families. The forts and the enclosure were named the 
Campus Martins. One of the early houses built within 
this stockade became the home of General Putnam. 

Marie Antoinette Square soon became known as 
Mound Square. General Putnam turned over his lease 
to the town, which set the property aside as a cemetery. 
Many of the settlers had died during two epidemics of 
smallpox, and there was need of a cemetery nearer the 
town than the ground set aside at the beginning. 

It is claimed that more officers of the Revolution have 
been buried in the Mound Cemetery than in any other 
cemetery in the country. There were twelve colonels, 
twelve majors, and twenty-two captains among the 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 381 

Marietta pioneers. When General Lafayette was in 
Marietta in 1825, the list was read to him, and he said : 
" I knew them all. I saw them at Brandywine, York- 
town, and Rhode Island. They were the, bravest of the 
brave." 

Over Putnam's grave is the following inscription : 

Gen. Rnfns Putnam 

A Revolutionary Officer 

And the leader of the 

Colony which made the 

First settlement in the 

Territory of the Northwest. 

Born April 9, 1738 

Died May 4, 1824. 

The house occupied by " the Father of Ohio," as he 
has been called, is preserved as a historical monument. 
In 1917 the Daughters of the American Revolution and 
Marietta succeeded in persuading the Ohio Legislature 
to pass a bill making provision for its repair and care. 



LXXXVII 

MONUMENT PLACE, ELM GROVE, WEST VIRGINIA 
THE PLANTATION HOME OF TWO MAKERS OF HISTORY 

At Shepherdstown, the oldest town in what is now 
West Virginia, Moses Shepherd was born on November 
11, 1763. His grandfather had founded the town. 

When Moses was about seven years old his father, 
Colonel Shepherd, removed his large family to his plan- 



382 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

tation between Big Wheeling and Little Creek, which is 
now included within the limits of Elm Grove. On the 
banks of the creek he built Fort Shepherd, that the 
settlers for miles around might have a place of refuge 
from the Indians. Of this fort Colonel Shepherd was 
in command till it was destroyed by the Indians in 1777. 
The family was hastily removed to Fort Henry, nearer 
the present site of Wheeling. There they were hard 
pressed by the Indians. Moses, along with other chil- 
dren, assisted in the defence by moulding bullets and 
carrying ammunition. 

Word went out to the neighboring strongholds of 
the endangered settlers at Fort Henry. Captain John 
Boggs, then at Catfish Camp (now Washington, Penn- 
sylvania), hurried to the assistance of Colonel Shepherd 
with forty armed men. With him was his daughter, 
Lydia, who took her place with Moses and the other 
young people as an assistant to the defenders. 

She was there when Molly Scott made her sally from 
the fort in search of shot, and she saw the heroine bring 
it in in her apron. She witnessed also the attempt of 
Major Samuel McColloch to enter the fort at the head 
of a squad of men which he had brought from Fort Van 
Meter, a few miles away. With joy she saw the men 
enter the gate of the fort, and her heart was in her 
mouth when she saw that McColloch, who was her 
cousin, was unable to follow because the Indians had 
managed to get between him and the gate. At last the 
gate was closed, lest the Indians gain entrance, and the 
gallant Major was left to his fate. 

The Indians thought they could capture him easily. 
They hemmed him on Wheeling Hill, on three sides. On 
the fourth side was a rocky precipice almost sheer, cov- 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 383 

ered with growth of trees and bushes. But the savages 
were not to have such an easy victory after all, for 
Major McColloch urged his horse over the brow of the 
steep hill, and, to the astonishment of all, slipped, slid, 
and fell to the bottom, where the way across the creek 
and to safety was comparatively easy. 

The Indians were finally driven away, but not until 
Moses Shepherd had made the acquaintance of Lydia 
Boggs, his companion in service at the fort. They were 
married later. In 1798, after the death of Colonel 
David Shepherd, Colonel Moses Shepherd took her to 
the palatial new home built on the site of the second 
Fort Shepherd, near the banks of Wheeling Creek. This 
house, which was called at first the Shepherd Mansion 
or the Stone House, later became known as the Monu- 
ment Place. 

The story of the third name, which still persists, is 
interesting. When, during Jefferson's administration, 
certain farsighted statesmen advocated the building of 
a National Highway which should connect Washington 
with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, Colonel Shepherd be- 
came one of the earnest and influential advocates of the 
road. He was a friend of Henry Clay, to whose inde- 
fatigable advocacy of the road was due much of the 
success of the venture. Clay was frequently a guest of 
the Shepherds, and in the stately stone house he talked 
with them about the difficulties, progress, and final 
triumph. 

When the road was an accomplished fact Colonel and 
Mrs. Shepherd caused to be built on the lawn a stone 
monument dedicated to their friend, in appreciation of 
his service. The monument, whose inscriptions have 
become illegible, is in plain sight from the Cumberland 



384 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

Road, or, as it came to be called, the National Road, 
just before it makes a sharp turn to cross the sturdy 
stone bridge over Little Wheeling Creek. Possibly this 
was one of the bridges Colonel Shepherd constructed. 
At any rate he was a contractor for a section of the 
road, and several bridges were erected by him. 

Along the Cumberland Road, which was the great 
highway between the East and the West, travelled home- 
seekers outward bound and business men and politicians 
to whom Washington beckoned irresistibly. Among the 
regular travellers at this and later periods were Andrew 
Jackson, William Henry Harrison, General Houston, 
James K. Polk, and others who made it a point never to 
pass the Shepherd Mansion without stopping. One of 
the early politicians who frequented the house, attracted 
there by Mrs. Shepherd, said : " She had a powerful in- 
tellect in her younger days. Many of our caucuses were 
held in her drawing-room. She could keep a secret 
better than most women, but her love of sarcasm and 
intrigue kept her from being very effective." 

Mrs. Shepherd, in fun, had criticisms to offer of some 
of her visitors. Once she spoke of Burton, Clay, and 
Webster as " those young men, promising, but crude, 
crude." 

She was accustomed to go every winter with her hus- 
band to Washington, where she would spend a few 
months during the season. They always travelled in a 
coach and four and they lived in great style at the 
Capital. There she was sought for her beauty, for her 
eccentricities, and her familiarity with private political 
life. 

Colonel Shepherd died in 1832. In 1833 Mrs. Shep- 
herd married General Daniel Cruger, a New York Con- 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 385 

gressman, who spent the last years of his life in West 
Virginia. 

After the General's death in 1843 Mrs. Cruger lived 
at Monument Place, receiving visitors as of old, and 
increasing in the eccentricities that kept any one from 
being her warm admirer. Always she proved herself an 
unusual woman. " If fate had placed her in the com- 
pressed centre of a court, instead of in the inconse- 
quent hurly-burly of a republic, she would have made 
for herself a great place in history," Mrs. Eebecca 
Harding Davis once wrote of her. 

She was still managing a large plantation during the 
Civil War, when a visitor dropped in to see her who has 
left the following picture of what she saw : 

" We saw a well-built house of dressed stone, very 
large and solid, with the usual detached kitchen and 
long row of ' negro quarters.' . . . 

" Mrs. Cruger's age was told by the skin of face and 
hands, which were like crumpled parchment, but the lips 
were firm and the eyes, deep set in wrinkled lids, were 
still dark and keen. She was then one hundred years 
old. 

" We went up to see the ball-room, which w^as across 
the whole front of the house, with many windows and a 
handsome carved marble mantel at each end, and deep 
closets on both sides of these fire-places. 

" Like Queen Elizabeth, Mrs. Cruger would seem to 
liave kept all her fine clothes. The whole walls were 
hung thick with dresses of silk and satin and velvet 
pelisses trimmed with fur; braided riding-habits; 
mantles of damasked black silk; band-boxes piled from 
floor to ceiling full of wonderful bonnets, some of tre- 
mendous size, fine large leghorn straw, costing from 
fifty to one hundred dollars; also veils that would reach 
to the knee of fine old English lace; gold and silver 



386 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

ruching ; and fine embroidered caslimere turbans, a per- 
fect museum of fashion from 1800 to 184:0." 

To another visitor Mrs. Cruger explained that it had 
long been her custom to put aside each year two gowns 
made in the fashion of that jesir. 

In her old age she liked to be alone. Frequently she 
would send every one from the house that she might 
bathe at night. Once her physician urged her to keep 
her maid near her. '' Why? " she asked; " because I am 
afraid? afraid of what? of death? Death will not come 
to me for twenty years yet." She was then ninety years 
old, and she lived to be nearly one hundred and two. 
She is buried, by the side of her two husbands, in Old 
Stone Church Cemetery on the hill above Elm Grove. 
A rough monument carries inscriptions to the memory 
of the three pioneers whose lives, as has been pointed 
out by a local historian, " covered the Indian War, the 
Colonial Period, the War of the American Revolution, 
the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War." 



LXXXVIII 

THE CASTLE AT FORT NIAGARA, NEW YORK 

THE OLDEST BUILDING IN THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES, 
WEST OF THE MOHAWK 

" The story of Fort Niagara is peculiarly the story of 
the fur trade and the strife for commercial monopoly," 
Frank H. Severance of the Buffalo Historical Society 
said in an address delivered at the fort in 1896; "and 
it is, too, in considerable measure, the story of our 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 387 

neighbor, the magnificent colony of Canada. ... It 
is a storj' replete witli incidents of battle and siege, of 
Indian cruelty, of patriot captivity, of white men's du- 
plicity, of famine, disease, and death, — of all the varied 
forms of misery and wretchedness of a frontier post, 
which we in days of ease are wont to call picturesque 
and romantic. It is a story without a dull page, and 
it is two and a half centuries long. ... I cannot better 
tell the story . . . then to symbolize Fort Niagara as 
a beaver skin, held by an Indian, a Frenchman, an Eng- 
lishman, and a Dutchman, each of the last three trying 
to pull it away from the others (the poor Dutchman 
early bowled over in the scuffle), and each European 
equally eager to placate the Indian with fine words, with 
prayers, or with brandy, or to stick a knife into his 
white brother's back.'' 

The story begins in 1669, with the first efforts of the 
French to secure possession of the Niagara country. It 
includes also the romance of the building of the Griffon., 
the first vessel on the Great Lakes, and the episode of 
the early fortification of the late Sisventeenth century. 
But it was not until 1726, the year of the building of 
the stone castle near the mouth of the Niagara Kiver, 
that the fort had its real beginning. The French felt 
compelled to build the fort because the activity of the 
English was interfering with their own fur trade with 
the Indians, and their plan to build Fort Oswego would 
increase the difficulty. No time was to be lost; Gov- 
ernor Joncaire felt that he could not wait for the ap- 
proval of the authorities at home. To these latter he 
sent word that he must build a fortress, and he asked 
for an appropriation; to the Indians he declared that 
he wished to have a mere trading station. His real pur- 



388 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

pose was indicated when he wrote to France that the 
building " will not have the appearance of a fort, so that 
no offence will be given to the Iroquois, who have been 
unwilling to allow any there, but it will answer the 
purpose of a fort just as well." 

The first step was the construction of two barques for 
use on Lake Ontario, to carry stone and timber for the 
building, and later, to cruise on the lake and intercept 
traders bound for Oswego. 

After the construction of the barques had been begun, 
the consent of the five Iroquois nations was secured. 
Longueuil promised them that it would be to them " a 
House of Peace " down to the third generation and 
farther. To Gaspard Chaussegros de Lery, engineer, 
was committed the building of the structure. He deter- 
mined to make it fireproof. " Instead of wooden parti- 
tions I have built heavy walls, and paved all the floors 
with flat stone," he wrote in a report sent to France. 
The loft was paved with flat stones " on a floor full of 
good oak joists, upon which cannon may be placed above 
the structure." 

The trade with the Indians at the completed stone 
house on the Niagara increased. So did the activities 
of the English. Governor Burnet of New York craftily 
persuaded the Onondaga Indians that their interests had 
been endangered by the building of the French fort, 
since it penned them up from their chief hunting-place, 
and was therefore contrary to the Treaty of Utrecht; 
they agreed with him that the Iroquois had no right to 
the territory, which was really the property of the Sene- 
cas, and they asked the Governor to appeal to King 
George to protect them in their right. 

Therefore the suggestion was made that they " submit 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 389 

and give up all their hunting country to the King," and 
sign a deed for it. Accordingly Seneca, Cayuga, and 
Onondaga sachems deeded to the English a sixty-mile 
strip along the south shore of Lake Ontario, which in- 
cluded the Niagara frontier, the Niagara Kiver being 
the western boundary. 

" From this time on the ' stone house ' was on British 
soil ; but it was yet to take the new owner a generation 
to dispossess the obnoxious tenant," Frank H. Severance 
writes in " An Old Frontier of France." 

The story of the next thirty years is a story of plots 
and counter-plots, of expeditions threatened and actual, 
of disappointing campaigns, of imprisonment and 
cruelty and death. More than once Indians promised 
the English that the house at Niagara should be razed. 
Spies reported that the defences at the castle were in 
bad shape; " 'tis certain that, should the English once 
attack it, 'tis theirs," one report ran. " I am informed 
that the fort is so dilapidated that 'tis impossible to 
put a pin in it without causing it to crumble ; stanchions 
have been obliged to be set up against it to support it." 
Another report disclosed that if the cannon were fired 
the walls would crumble. 

But the French were not ready to give up. They felt 
that Fort Niagara was the key to the Ohio Valley, which 
thej^ wished to control. They strengthened the defences 
of the fort. The defeat of Braddock at Fort Du Quesne 
and the strange decision of General Shirley to stop at 
Oswego instead of continuing with his force to Niagara, 
gave the French a new lease of life. 

In 1759 came the end of French rule. General Pri- 
deaux's expedition from New York began the siege of 
the fort early in July, and after several weeks it capitu- 



390 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

lated. Until 1796 the English flag floated above the 
" castle.'' The commander of this post, like the com- 
manders of six other forts, refused on various pretexts 
to surrender to America, in spite of the terms of the 
treaty of 1783. Attempts were made to secure posses- 
sion, but none of them were successful, and it was not 
until 1794 that Great Britain agreed to evacuate Niag- 
ara and the other forts still held, " on or before the 1st 
of June, 1796." 

Seventeen years later, in 1813, the British flag again 
replaced the Stars and Stripes over the historic building, 
but the fort was restored to the United States in 1815. 
Since that time it has been a part of the army post that 
has been more important because of its history than for 
any other reason. 

The Daughters of the War of 1812 have placed a suit- 
able tablet on the Old Castle, and are interested in the 
proposition that has been made to turn the venerable 
edifice into an international museum, which shall com- 
memorate the one hundred years of peace between Great 
Britain and America. 

In 1917 the eyes of the nation were once more turned 
on the fort by Lake Ontario, for it was made a training 
ground for officers who were to be sent to the battle 
front in France and Belgium. The castle, nearly two 
hundred years old, and strong as ever, again wit- 
nessed the gathering of patriots, and the spot that had 
echoed to the tread of French who had yielded to the 
English, of English who had driven out the French, and 
of Americans who had driven out the English, became 
the parade ground of Americans who were making ready 
to stand side by side with French and English for the 
freedom of the world. 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 391 

LXXXIX 

THE SCHUYLER MANSION, ALBANY, NEW YORK 

THE RALLYING PLACE OF THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS 

When Catherine Van Kensselaer married Philip 
Schuyler, on September 17, 1755, he was a soldier who 
had been engaged in the campaign against the French 
at Crown Point. She was glad when he resigned, in 
1756, but he returned to army life in 1758 and at inter- 
vals for more than twenty years he continued his mili- 
tary service. Two days after the Battle of Bunker Hill 
Congress made him a major-general. During his three 
years in the army of the Colonies, he was the subject of 
continual abuse on the part of those who felt that he 
had conducted carelessly his expedition to Canada and 
the campaign against Burgoyne. He was able to stand 
up against the public clamor because Washington had 
confidence in him and because he was twice given a clean 
bill of health by a court of inquiry. 

During this season of misunderstanding he was sus- 
tained by his wife, who was a remarkable assistant both 
in his home and in public affairs. During the years 
when he was frequently incapacitated by gout she car- 
ried on much of his work for him, and so enabled him to 
maintain his place in the councils of the nation. 

It was in 1760 that Mrs. Schuyler first showed her 
great executive ability. While her husband was absent 
in England, wliere he had been sent by General Brad- 
street, she superintended the erection of a new house, a 



392 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

spacious mansion of yellow brick that is to-day as 
staunch as when it was built. 

From the beginning the Schuyler mansion, the home 
of the first citizen of Albany, was noted because of the 
boundless hospitality of its mistress. All were wel- 
comed who sought its doors. One notable company was 
made up of nine Catawba warriors from South Carolina, 
who were on their way to ratify a covenant with the Six 
Nations at the close of the Cherokee War. They were 
met at the wharf by Major Schuyler and taken directly 
to the house. 

Among the visitors to Albany in 1776 were three 
Commissioners appointed by Congress to visit the Army 
of the North, one of whom, Benjamin Franklin, was so 
wearied by the journey from Philadelphia that he was 
sincerely grateful for Mrs. Schuyler's care. One of the 
Commissioners said later of General Schuyler, " He lives 
in pretty style, and has two daughters, Betsey and 
Peggy, lively, agreeable gals." He was delighted to 
learn that the motto of Philip Schuyler and his house- 
hold was, " As for me and my house, we will serve 
our country." 

Another of the fortunate men who were privileged to 
be in the house for a season was Tench Tilghman, an 
aide-de-camp of General Washington. He wrote in his 
journal of " Miss Ann Schuyler, a very Pretty Young 
Lady. A brunette with dark eyes, and a countenance 
animated and sparkling, as I am told she is." Later he 
met " Miss Betsey, the General's 2nd Daughter." " I 
w^as prepossessed in favor of the Young Lady the mo- 
ment I saw her," he said. " A Brunette with the most 
good natured dark lovely eyes I ever saw, which threw 
a beam of good temper and Benevolence over her entire 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 393 

countenance. Mr. Livingstone informed me that I was 
not mistaken in my Conjecture for she was the finest 
tempered Girl in the World." 

Tench Tilghman was to renew the acquaintance in 
1779, when Betsey and her parents spent a few months 
in Morristown, New Jersey. Alexander Hamilton also 
was there, and he secured Betsey's promise to be his 
bride. 

The marriage took place at the Albany homestead on 
December 14, 1780. A few months later the young hus- 
band, having resigned from the army, was studying law 
in Albany and was a welcome addition to the Schuyler 
household. 

Two years after the wedding came one of the inci- 
dents that has made the mansion famous. Because of 
the General's influence with the Indian allies of the 
British, a number of attempts were made to capture 
him ; the British wished to put him where he could not 
interfere with their plans. One summer day, when Mrs. 
Carter, Mrs. Hamilton's sister Margaret, was in the 
house with her baby Philip, a party of Tories, Cana- 
dians, and Indians surrounded the house and forced 
an entrance. Mary Gay Humphreys, in " Catherine 
Schuyler," tells what followed : 

" The house was guarded by six men. Their guns 
were in the hall, the guards being outside and the relief 
asleep. Lest the small Philip be tempted to play with 
the guns his mother had them removed. The alarm was 
given by a servant. The guards rushed for their guns, 
but they were gone. The family fled upstairs, but Mar- 
garet, remembering the baby in the cradle below, ran 
ijack, seized the baby, and wlien slie was halfway up the 
flight, an Indian flung his tomahawk at her head, which, 



394 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

missing her, buried itself in the wood, and left its his- 
toric mark to the present time." 

After the attack on the mansion Washington wrote to 
General Schuyler, begging him to strengthen his guard. 
The following year the Commander-in-chief was a guest 
at the mansion, while in 1784 he spent the night there, 
after an evening consultation with Schuyler, while Mrs. 
Washington visited with her friend Mrs. Schuyler. 

Lafayette, Count de Rochambeau, Baron Steuben, 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, John Jay, and Aaron 
Burr had a taste of the delights of life at the mansion. 
The latter was destined to defeat General Schuyler for 
reelection to the Senate, as he was to be in turn de- 
feated by the General. The British General Burgoyne 
and his staff also were entertained in the mansion, after 
General Schuyler's victory at Saratoga, and this in spite 
of the fact that much of the General's property had been 
destroyed by Burgoyne's order. 

For many years the house was famous as the meeting 
place of the friends of the young nation. Frequent con- 
ferences were held in the library on the proposed consti- 
tution. It is said that many sections of the document 
were written there by Hamilton, and the steps of the 
campaign for the ratification of the document were out- 
lined within the historic walls. When, at last, the vic- 
tory was complete, General Schuyler and Alexander 
Hamilton walked at the head of the gay procession that 
hailed the news with joy. The whole town was illumi- 
nated, but the most brilliantly lighted building was the 
old mansion. 

During the years that followed General Schuyler's 
health failed gradually, and he became more than ever 
dependent on his wife. When she died, in 1803, he did 




WENTWOKTH HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, X. H 



Ph„l„ In, Ilnllnh,:, //..t,,,;.- J'l,n>.„,raph Company 
See page 395 




W AKXKU HOUSi;, I'OUTS.MOUTH, X. H. 



I'hiiln liij Frank Cousins Art Company 
See page 395 







Photo V<iiiyri,/ht Inj Ditroil Fludogniphic Compiuiy 



WADSWORTH-LONGFELLOW HOUSE, PORTLAND, ME. 



See page 400 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 395 

not know what to do without her. To Hamilton he 
wrote : 

" My trial has been severe. I shall attempt to sustain 
it with fortitude. I hope I have succeeded in a degree, 
but after giving- and receiving for nearly a half a cen- 
tury, a series of mutual evidences of affection and 
friendship which increased as we advanced in life, the 
shock was great and sensibly felt, to be thus suddenly 
deprived of a beloved wife, the Mother of my children, 
and the soothing companion of my declining years. But 
I kiss the rod with humility. The Being that inflicted 
the stroke will enable me to sustain the smart, and 
progressively restore peace to my wounded heart, and 
will make you and Eliza and my other children the in- 
struments of my Consolation. ..." 

General Schuyler died in November, 1804, four 
months after the duel with Burr in which Hamilton was 
slain. 

The mansion in which he spent so many happy years 
was long an orphan asylum, but in 1911 it was pur- 
chased by the State. On October 17, 1917, it was dedi- 
cated as a State Monument. 



XC 

THE WENTWORTH HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, 
NEW HAMPSHIRE 

THE SCENE OF THE ROMANCE OF LADY WENTWORTH 

When, in 1750, Governor Benning Wentworth began 
to rebuild for his mansion at Little Harbor, two miles 
from the business centre of Portsmouth a farm-house 



396 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

which dated from the latter part of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, he thought more of comfort than of architecture. 
Evidentlj^ those who later added to the house thought as 
little of architecture as the original builder ; the product 
became such a strange conglomeration of wings and 
" L's " that it is dif&cult to see which is the original 
portion. Once the house contained fifty-two rooms, but 
a portion has been torn away, and the structure as it 
stands is not quite so spacious, though still large enough 
for a hotel. Even the cellar is tremendous, for Gov- 
ernor Wentworth provided there a place for his horses, 
to be used in time of danger. Thirty animals could be 
accommodated there. 

Many of the rooms are small, but some are of impres- 
sive size, notably the Council Chamber, where meetings 
that helped to make history were held, and the billiard 
room, where the owner and his associates were accus- 
tomed to go when the strain of business became too 
great. 

Longfellow thus describes the house : 

"It was a pleasant mansion, an abode 
Near and yet hidden from the great high-road, 
Sequestered among trees, a noble pile, 
Baronial and colonial in its style ; 
Gables and dormer-windows everywhere. 
And stacks of chimneys rising high in air — 
Pandaian pipes, on which all winds that blew 
Made mournful music the whole winter through. 
Within, unwonted splendors met the eye. 
Panels, and floors of oak, and tapestry; 
Carved chimney-pieces, where on brazen dogs 
Revelled and roared the Christmas fire of logs; 
Doors opening into darkness unawares. 
Mysterious passages, and flights of stairs, 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 397 

And on the walls, in heavy gilded frames, 

The ancestral Wentworths with Old-Scripture names." 

While Governor Wentworth was an important figure 
during the days preceding the Revolution, the mansion 
is celebrated not so much because of his political service 
as because of the romance of his second marriage. 

Martha Hilton, the heroine of the romance, was " a 
careless, laughing, bare-footed girl." One day a neigh- 
bor saw her, in a short dress, carrying a pail of water 
in the street. " You, Pat ! You, Pat ! Why do you go 
looking so? You should be ashamed to be seen in the 
street ! " was the shocked comment. But the answer 
was not what the neighbor expected. " No matter how 
I look, I shall ride in my chariot jet, Marm." 

The story of what followed is told by Charles W. 
Brewster, a historian of old Portsmouth : 

" Martha Hilton afterwards left home, and went to 
live in the Governor's mansion at Little Harbor, doing 
the work of the kitchen, and keeping the house in order, 
much to the Governor's satisfaction. . . . The Governor 
has invited a dinner party, and with many other guests, 
in his cocked hat comes the beloved Rev. Arthur Brown, 
of the Episcopal church. The dinner is served up in a 
style becoming the Governor's table. . . . There is a 
whisper from the Governor to a messenger, and at his 
summons Martha Hilton comes in from that door on 
the Avest of the parlor, and, with blushing countenance, 
stands in front of the fireplace. She seems heedless of 
the fire — she does not appear to have brought anything 
in, nor does she seem to be looking for anything to carry 
out — there she stands! a damsel of twenty summers — 
for what, no visitor can tell. 

" The Governor, bleached by the frosts of sixty 
winters, rises. * Mr. Brown, I wish you to marry me.' 



39S HISTORIC SHRIXES OF AMERICA 

* To whom?* asks Ms pastor, in wondering surprise. 
' To this ladv.* was the reply. The rector stood con- 
founded. The Governor became imperative. * As the 
Governor of New Hampshii-e I command yoii to miu*ry 
me I * The ceremony was then duly performed, and 
from that time Martha Hilton became Lady Went- 
worth." 

Longfellow's record of the incident is given in the 
poem, " Lady Wentworth " : 

''The years came and . . . the years went, seven in all. 
And all these years had Martha Hilton served 
In the Great House, not wholly unobserved: 
By day. by night, the silver crescent grew. 
Though hidden by clouds, the light still shining through ; 
A maid oi all work, whether coarse or fine, 
A servant who made service seem divine! 
Through her each room was fair to look upon ; 
The mirrors glistened, and the brasses shone, 
The very knocker at the outer door. 
K she but passed, was brighter than before." 

Then came the strange marriage scene : 

'■Can This be Maitha Hilton? It must be! 
Yes, Martha Hdton. and no other she ! 
Dowered with the beauty of her twenty years. 
How ladylike, how queenlike she appears : 
The pale, thin crescent of the days gone by 
Is Dian now in all her majesty! 
Yet scarce a guest perceived that she was there 
Until the Grovemor. rising from his chair. 
Played slightly with his ruffles, then looked down 
And said unto the Reverend Arthur Brown : 
• This is my birthday : it shall likewise be 
My wedding-day. and you shall marry me!' *' 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 399 

Governor Wentworth died in 1770, three years after 
the coming to America of Michael Wentworth, a retired 
colonel in the British Army. Mrs. Wentworth married 
him, and he became the second lord of the mansion. 
During his residence there Washington w'as welcomed 
to the house, one day in 1789. 

Martha Wentworth, the only daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Michael Wentworth, married Sir John Wentworth, 
an Englishman, and they lived in the old house until 
181C, when the property passed to a family of another 
name. 

There are a number of houses in Portsmouth which 
tell of the ancient glories of different branches of the 
Wentworth family. Perhaps the most famous is the 
Warner house, which w^as begun in 1718 by Captain 
Archibald Macpheadris, and w\as finished in 1723, at a 
cost of £G,000. Mrs. Macpheadris was Sarah Went- 
worth, one of the sixteen children of Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor John Wentworth, and sister of Governor Benning 
Wentworth. Their daughter, Mary, married Hon. 
Jonathan Warner, who was the next occupant of the 
house. The property is known by his name, rather than 
that of the builder — perhaps because it is so much easier 
to pronounce ! The house is now occupied by Miss Eva 
Sherburne, a descendant of the original owner. 

The Warner house has a lightning rod, which was put 
up in 1762, under the personal supervision of Benjamin 
Franklin. It is said that this was the first lightning 
rod erected in New Hampshire. 



400 



HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 



XCI 

THE WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW HOUSE, 
PORTLAND, MAINE 

WHERE HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW SPENT 
HIS BOYHOOD 



The old house hy the linden 
Stood silent in the shade, 

And on the gravelled pathway 
The light and shadow played. 

I saw the nursery windows 

Wide open to the air; 
But the faces of the children. 

They were no longer there. 

The large Neivfoundland house- 
dog 

Was standing hy the door; 
He looked for his little playmates 

Who would return no more. 



They walked not under the linden, 
They played not in the hall; 

But shadow and silence, and sad- 
ness 
Were hanging over all. 

The birds sang in the branches, 
With sweet familiar tone; 

But the voices of the children 
Will be heard in dreams alone! 

And the boy that toalked beside me, 
He could not understand 

Why close in mine, ah! closer, 
I pressed his little hand! 



When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these 
lines perhaps he was thinking of the home of his boy- 
hood in Portland, which his grandfather, General Peleg 
Wadsworth, built in 1785. 

The house was the wonder of the town, for it was the 
first brick building erected there. The brick had been 
brought from Virginia. Originally there were but two 
stories ; the third story was added when the future poet 
was eight years old. 

Longfellow was born in the house at the corner of 
Fourth and Hancock streets, but he was only eight 
months old when he was carried within the inviting 
front doors of the Wadsworth house, and the mansion 
was home to him for at least thirty-five years. 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 401 

He was only five years old when he declared that he 
wanted to be a soldier and fight for his country. The 
War of 1812 was then in progress. His aunt wrote one 
day, " Our little Henry is ready to march ; he had his 
gun prepared and his head powdered a week ago." 

But, agreeing with his parents that school was a 
better place for him than the army, he began his studies 
when he was five years old. A year later his teacher 
gave him a certificate which read: 

" Master Henry Longfellow is one of the best boys we 
have in school. He spells and reads very well. He 
also can add and multiply numbers. His conduct last 
quarter was very correct and amiable." 

Life in the Longfellow home was delightful. Samuel 
Longfellow, the poet's brother, has given a pleasing 
picture : 

" In the evenings the children gathered with their 
books and slates round the table in the family sitting 
room. The silence would be broken for a minute by 
the long, mysterious blast of a horn announcing the 
arrival in town of the evening mail, then the rattle of 
its passing w^heels, then silence again, save the singing 
of the wood fire. Studies over, there would be games 
till bedtime. If these became too noisy, or the father 
had brought home his law papers from the office, enjoin- 
ing strictest quiet, then there was flight to another room 
— perhaps, in winter, to the kitchen, where hung the 
crane over the coals in the broad old fireplace, upon 
whose iron back a fish forever baked in effigy, 

" When bedtime came, it was hard to leave the warm 
fire to go up into the unwarmed bedrooms ; still harder 
next morning to get up out of the comfortable feather 
beds and break the ice in the pitchers for washing. But 
hardship made hardihood. In summer it was pleasant 



402 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

enough to look out from the upper windows; those of 
the bovs* room looked out over the Cove and the farms 
and woodlands toward Mount Washington, full in view 
on the western horizon; while the eastern chambers 
commanded a then unobstructed view of the bay. White 
Head, Port Prebble, and the lighthouse on Cape Eliza- 
beth." 

One day in 1820, when the family was gathered about 
the fire, Henry was on tiptoe with eager excitement. He 
had written a poem and had sent it to The Portland 
Gazette. Would it be in the paper which his father 
had in his hand as he seated himself before the fire? 
Robertson, in his life of the poet, has described those 
anxious moments: 

" How carefully his father unfolded the damp sheet, 
and how carefully he dried in at the fire ere beginning 
to read it I And how much foreign news there seemed 
to be in it I At last Henry and a sympathetic sister who 
shared his secret, obtained a peep over their parent's 
shoulder — and the poem was there!" 

There are sixteen rooms in the old house. In Henry's 
day these rooms were heated by eight fireplaces, which 
consumed thirty cords of wood during the long winter. 
On the first floor are the great living-room, the kitchen 
with its old fireplace, and the den, once the dining-room. 
On the desk still shown in this room Longfellow wrote, 
in 1841, '• The Rainy Day," whose opening lines are : 

* ' The day is cold, and dark, and dreary. 
It rains, and the wind is never weary : 
The vine still clings to the mouldering waU, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
And the day is dark and dreary." 



ALL THE WAY BACK TO NEW ENGLAND 403 

Into the ground floor rooms have been gathered many 
relics of the days when the poet was a boy. The four 
rooms of the second floor are also full of mementoes. 
But the most interesting part of the house is the third 
story, where there are seven rooms. To this floor the 
four children made their way on summer nights when 
the long hours af daylight invited them to stay up 
longer, and on winter evenings, when the fire downstairs 
seemed far more inviting than the cold floors and the 
colder sheets. 

One of these rooms is pointed out as the poet's cham- 
ber. Here he wrote many of his earlier poems. Among 
these was '' The Lighthouse." In this he described 
sights in which he delighted, sights the lighthouse daily 
witnessed : 

"And the great ships sail outward and return 
Bending and bowing o'er the billowing swell, 
And ever joyful as they see it burn, 

They wave their silent welcome and farewell. 

* ' ' Sail on, ' it says, ' sail on, ye stately ships ! 

And with your floating bridge the ocean span ; 
Be mine to guard the light from all eclipse. 
Be yours to bring man nearer unto man.' " 

During the years after 1843, when Longfellow bought 
the Craigie House at Cambridge, his thoughts turned 
back with longing to the old home and the old town, and 
he wrote : 

"Often I think of the beautiful town 

That is seated by the sea ; 
Often in thought go up and down 

The pleasant streets of the dear old town, 
And my youth comes back to me. ' ' 



404 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

For nineteen years after the poet's death his sister 
Ann, Mrs. Pierce, lived in the old home. When she died, 
in 1901, she deeded it to the Maine Historical Society, 
that the place might be made a permanent memorial of 
the life of The Children's Poet. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



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Country Homes of Famous Americans. By O. B. Capen. Doubleday, 

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Early American Churches. By Aymar Embury, II. Doubleday, Page & 

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Early Ecclesiastical Affairs in New Castle, Delaware. By Thomas 

Holcomb. Wilmington, 1890. 
First American, The; His Homes and His Households. By Leila Her- 
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Hamilton, Alexander, Intimate Life of. By Allan McLane Hamilton. 

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Hawthorne, Study of. By George Parsons Lathrop. Houghton, Mifflin 

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Hearths and Homes of Old Lynn. By Nathan Mortimer Hawkes. 
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Historic Churches of America. By Nellie Urner Wallington. Duffield 

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408 HISTORIC SHRINES OF AMERICA 

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INDEX 



Abraham Lincoln House, Spring- 
field, Illinois, 369 
Acrostic, 23 

Adams House, Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, 44 
Adams. Abigail, 20, 48, 230 
Adams, John, 20, 24, 25, 44, 45, 
47, 52, 150, 160, 226, 230, 305, 
329 
Adams, John Quincy, 45, 47, 48, 

232 
Adams, Samuel, 20, 26, 27 
Alamo, the, San Antonio, Texas, 

347 
Alamo, battle of the, 348 
Alcott, Bronson, 64 
American Revolution, Daughters 

of the, 125, 377, 381 
American Standard, Richmond, 

Virginia, 295 
Amesbury, Massachusetts, 56 
Amstel House, New Castle, Dela- 
ware, 205 
Andros, Governor, 19, 34, 35 
Annapolis, Maryland, 226 
Arlington, Virginia, 246 
Asbury, Bishop Francis, 244 
Ashland, Lexington, Kentucky, 

355 
Aubrey, William, 148 
Audubon, John James, 187 

Bakewell, Mary, 190 

Bell, Mary, mother of George 

Washington, 251 
Bells of St. Philip's, romance of 

the, 334 
Bennet-Boardman House, Saugus, 

Massachusetts, 69 
Bennet, Samuel, 70 
Berrian, John, 137 
Biglow Papers, 38 
Bill of Rights, Virginia's, 284 
" Birds of America," Audubon's 

preparation for, 190 



Blair, Rev. James, 289, 291 
Boardman, Abijah, 71 
Boone, Daniel, 360 
Boonesborough, Kentucky, 360 
Boston, Brattle Street meeting, 29 

fire of 1761, 30 

Gazette, 30 

Massacre, 19, 31 

News Letter, 28 

North Church, 27 

North Square, 28 

Old South Church, 31 

Port Bill, 25, 73, 271 

Tea Party, 24, 31, 34, 37, 68, 
73 
Boudinot, Elias, 43, 120 
Braddock, General, 115, 253 
Braintree, Massachusetts, 46. 
Brandon, Virginia, 281 
Breck, Samuel, 183 
Brewton, Miles, 336 
Brick Capitol, the, 228 
British at Monticello, 324 
Broadhearth, Saugus, Massachu- 
setts, 69 
Broadstreet, Simon, 69 
Brown, Richard, 82 
Brown University, 83 
Bruton Parish, Virginia, 288 
Budden, Captain, 165 
Bunker Hill, 26, 68 
Burgoyne, General, 34, 179, 391 
Burlington, New Jersey, 226 
Burr, Aaron, 90, 131, 394 
Byrd, Evelyn, 279 

Cabildo, New Orleans, Louisiana, 

343 
Cabot, Arthur, 37 
Caldwell, New Jersey, church at, 

119 
Caldwell, Rev. James, 119 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 36, 73 
Campfield House, Morristown, New 

Jersey, 126 



411 



412 



INDEX 



Canonicus, 81 

Capitol at Washington, 225 
Carleton, Sir Guy, 108, 110 
Carpenters' Company of the City 
and County of Philadelphia, 
149 
Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, 

149 
Carroll, Charles, 216 
Carter, Elizabeth Hill, 279 
Carter, Landon, 278 
Carter's Grove, Virginia, 280 
Cartwright, Peter, 352 
Castle at Fort Niagara, New York, 

386 
Chaplains: James Caldwell, 139 
George Duffield, 160 
Charles River, 27 
Charleston, Massachusetts, 27 
Chastellux, Marquis de, 107, 279, 

324 
Chew, Benjamin, Jr., 159 
Chew, Joseph, 93 
Chew, Samuel, 156 
Christ Church, Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, 249 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, 153, 

199 
Christmas, the first, at Bethlehem, 

Pennsylvania, 197 
Church furnishings, primitive, 95, 

121 
Churches: Old North, Boston, 27, 
32; Old South, Boston, 20, 24, 
32; King's Chapel, Boston, 32; 
West, Boston, 37 
Old South, Newburyport, Massa- 
chusetts, 75 
First Baptist, Providence, 

Rhode Island, 80 
St. Paul's Chapel, New York, 95 
St. Martins-in-the-Fields, Lon- 
don, 95 
Trinity Church, New York, 96 
Caldwell, New Jersey, 119 
Old Tennent, Freehold, New 

Jersey, 122 
Springfield Meeting House, New 

Jersey, 138 
St. Peter's, Philadelphia, 153 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, 153 
Old Pine Street, Philadelphia, 

159 
Norriton Presbyterian, 172 



Moravian at Bethlehem, Penn- 
sylvania, 196 
Emmanuel, New Castle, Dela- 
ware, 204 
Presbyterian, New Castle, Dela- 
ware, 205 
Rehoboth, DelaAvare, 211 
Christ Church, Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, 277, 294 
Pohick, Virginia, 249, 311 
St. John's, Richmond, 264 
Bruton Parish, Virginia, 288 
Monumental, Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, 277, 294 
Pohick Church, Virginia, 311 
St. Luke's, Smithfield, Virginia, 

318 
St. Peter's, New Kent County, 

Virginia, 318 
St. Michael's, Charleston, S. C, 

333 
Huguenot, Charleston, South 

Carolina, 333 
St. Philip's, Charleston, South 

Carolina, 333, 340 
Independent, Savannah, Georgia, 

340 
Old Stone Church, Elm Grove, 
West Virginia, 386 
Clark, George Rogers, 360 
Clay, Henry, 308, 355, 383 
Clermont, the, 234 
Cleveland, Stephen Grover, 122 
Clinton, General George, 107 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 337 
Cliveden, Germantown, Philadel- 
phia, 156 
Clock on Independence Hall, Phil- 
adelphia, 166 
Coddington, William, 49 
College of New Jersey, 130, 

297 
College Customs at Nassau Hall, 

130 
Collins, Varnum Lansing, 130 
Colonial Dames of Massachusetts, 

53 
Concord, Massachusetts, 26, 27 
Congress at Princeton, New Jer- 
sey, 133 
Constitutional Convention of 

1787, 168 
Continental Congress, 83, 93, 150 
Conway Cabal, 182 



i 



INDEX 



413 



Cordale, Thomas, 213 

Cornwallis, Lord, 134, 293 

Council of Safety, Philadelphia, 
172, 193 

Courtship of Alexander Hamilton 
and Elizabeth Schuyler, 128 

Crab Orchard, Kentucky, 360 

Craigie, Andrew, 41 

Craigie House, Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, 40, 403 

Crockett, David, 350 

Crown Point, 23 

Cumberland Road, 384 

Cunningham, Ann Pamela, 245 

Curtis, George William, 64 

Custis, George Washington Parke, 
246, 255 

Custis, Nelly, 219 

Daily Advertiser, New York, 87 
Daily American Advertiser, Phila- 
delphia, 196 
Dartmouth, ship, 24 
Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution, 90, 377, 381 
Daughters of the War of 1812, 390 
Decatur, Stephen, 154 
Declaration of Independence, 37, 

48, 132, 167, 216, 325 
Dent, Fred, 362 
Desecration of Carpenters' Hall, 

152 
Desecration of the Capitol, 229 
Dexter, Thomas, 69 
Diaries: 

of John Tudor, 19 

of Albigence Waldo, 182 

of George Washington, 21, 89, 

218, 313 
of John Adams, 45 
of Robert Breck, 184 
of Tench Tilghman, 392 
Dix, Dr. Morgan, 96 
Dorchester Heights, Massachu- 
setts, 68 
Doughoregan Manor, Maryland, 

216 
Dowry of pine-tree shillings, 50 
Duchg, Rev. Jacob, 150, 154 
Duffield, Rev. George, 160 
Dunlap, William, 137 
Du Ponceau, Peter S., 176 
Duston Garrison House, Haverhill, 
Massachusetts, 56 



Duston, Hannah, 56 
Duston, Thomas, 56 

East India Company, 31 

Eden, Governor Robert, 221 

Edwards, Jonathan, 75 

Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, 120, 
139 

Elmwood, Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, 36 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 33 

Emlen House, Pennsylvania, 178 

Emmanuel Church, Newcastle, 
Delaware, 204 

Everett, Edward, 41 

Expenses in raising the Tower of 
the State House, Philadel- 
phia, 164 

Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 
148 

Faneuil, Andrew, 28 

Faneuil, Peter, 28, 35 

Faneuil Hall, Boston, 20, 28, 30, 
31, 34 

Fatlands, near Philadelphia, 187 

Federal District, location of the, 
226 

Fernside Farm, Haverhill, Massa- 
chusetts, 54 

First Baptist Church, Providence, 
Rhode Island, 80 

Fitch, John, 234 

Flag, American, 89 

Flag, first American in British 
waters, 78 

Flint, Ruth, 54 

Flynt, Tutor, 51 

Ford Mansion, Morristown, New 
Jersey, 126 

Forks of the Delaware. 196 

Fort Washington, New York City, 
89 

Fort William and Mary, 26 

Fox, George, 212 

Franklin, Benjamin, 34, 52, 97, 
115, 172, 235, 392, 399 

Fraunces, Samuel, 98 

Fraunces' Tavern, New York, 97 

Freeman, Rev. James, 36 

" From Greenland's Icy Moun- 
tains," 342 

Gage, General, 37, 43 



414 



INDEX 



Gano, Rev. Stephen, 83 
Garrison, William Lloyd, 22, 55 
Gazette, Boston, 30 
Gazette, Essex, 25 
Gazette, New York, 95, 99 
Gazette of the United States, 256 
Gazette, Portland, Maine, 402 
Gazette, Williamsburg, Virginia, 

262 
Germantown, battle of, 157, 180 
Germantown, Pennsylvania, 226 
Gerry, Elbridge, 37, 73 
Girard College, Philadelphia, 229 
Glover, Colonel, 42 
Grant, Ulysses S., 362 
Green, General, 42 
Greenway, Virginia, 257 
Griffon, building of the, 387 
Gunston Hall, Virginia, 281 

Hale, Edward Everett, 37 
Hallet, Stephen L., 226 
Hamilton, Alexander, 100, 127, 

393 
Hamilton, Allan MacLane, 101 
Hancock. John, 20, 24, 26, 27, 34, 

45, 52, 53 
Hanover Court House, Virginia, 

262 
" Hardscrabble," St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, 363 
Harlem Heights, battle of, 88 
Harmar, Fort, 379 
Harrison, Benjamin, 263, 281 
Harrison Mansion, the, Vineennes, 

Indiana, 374 
Harrison, William Henry, 360, 

374 
Harte, Bret, 140 
Harvard College, 38 
Hasbrouck, Jonathan, 107 
Haverliill Historical Society, 60 
Haverhill, Massachusetts, 56 
Hav?thorne, Nathaniel, 40, 61 
Hay, Henry Hanby, 205 
Headqiiarters : Washington's at 

Roger Morris House, Now 

York, 88 
Washins^ton's at Richmond Hill, 

New York, 99 
Washington's at Van Cortlandt 

House, New York, 105 
Washington's at Newburgh, New 

York, 107. 



Washington's at Morristown, 

New jersey, 126 
Washington's at Rocky Hill, 

New Jersey, 134 
Washington's at Rocky Hill, 

New Jersey, 137 
Washington's at Valley Forge, 

174 
Washington's at Pennypacker's 
Mills, Dawesfield, and Emlen 
House, 178 
Heijt, Hans Joest, 178 
Henricopolis, Virginia, 266 
Henry, Patrick, 264, 266, 268, 
271, 283, 285, 290, 305, 309, 
314 
Henry, William, 179 
Herald, the San Antonio, Texas, 

348 
Hermitage, The, Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, 351 
Hoban. James, architect of White 

House, 227, 230 
Hodgson, Adam, 219. 
Hollyman, Ezekiel, 81 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 52, 53 
Honor System, the, in William 

and Mary College, 294 
Hospitality: at Montpelier, Vir- 
ginia, 299 
at Oak Hill, Virginia, 303 
at Red Hill, Virginia, 306 
at Mount Airy, Virginia, 315 
at Monticello, 325 
at The Hermitage, 353 
at Ashland, Kentucky, 357 
at the Schuyler Mansion, Al- 
bany, New York, 394 
Hough, Atherton, 50 
House of Seven Gables, 41 
Houses: Paul Revere's, Boston, 
Massachusetts, 23 
Elmwood, Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, 36 
Crairrie Hous^, Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, 40, 403 
Adams House, Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, 44 
Quincy Mansion, Quincy, Mas- 
sachusetts, 49 
Fernside Farm, Haverhill, Mas- 
sachusetts. 54 
Duston Garrison House, Hav- 
erhill, Massachusetts, 56 



INDEX 



415 



The Old Manse, Concord, Mas- 
sachusetts, 61 

The Wayside, Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, 61 

Royall House, Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, 66 

Bennet-Boardman, Saugus, Mas- 
sachusetts, 69 

Broadhearth, Saugus, Massa- 
chusetts, 69 

Jeremiah Lee House, Marble- 
head, Massachusetts, 72 

Morris-Jumel House, New York 
City, 87 

Philipse Manor, Yonkers, New 
York, 01, 105 

The Grange, New York City, 
100 

Van Cortlandt, New York City, 
105 

Hasbrouck, Newburgh, New 
York, 106 

Franklin Palace, Perth Amboy, 
New Jersey, 115 

Ford Mansion, Morristown, New 
Jersey, 126 

Campfield, Morristown, New 
Jersey, 126 

Morven, the Mercer House and 
Washington's Headquarters 
at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 
134 

Letitia Penn, Philadephia, 
145 

Pennsbury Manor, Pennsyl- 
vania, 147 

Cliveden, Germantown, Pennsyl- 
vania, 156 

David Rittcnhouse, Philadel- 
phia, 170 

Isaac Potts, at Valley Forge, 
Pennsylvania, 175 

Pennypacker's Mills, Pennsyl- 
vania, 178 

Dawesfield, Pennsylvania, 178 

Sweetbrier, Philadelphia, 183 

Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, 187 

Fatlands, Pennsylvania, 187 

Waynesborough, Paoli, Pennsyl- 
vania, 192 

Amatel, New Castle, Delaware, 
205 

George Read's, New Castle, Dela- 
ware, 207 



Ridgely, Dover, Delaware, 208 
Doughoregan Manor, Maryland, 

216 
Upton Scott, Annapolis, Mary- 
land, 220 
White House, Washington, 230, 

236 
Octagon, Washington, 231, 234, 

236, 317 
Mt. Airy, Virginia, 234, 314 
Mt. Vernon, Virginia, 241 
Arlington, Virginia, 246 
Mary Washington's, Fredericks- 
burg, Virginia, 251 
Pine Grove, Virginia, 253 
Kenmore, Virginia, 253 
Greenway, Virginia, 257 
Sherwood Forest, Virginia, 257 
Nelson, Yorktown, Virginia, 

270 
Moore House, Yorktown, Vir- 
ginia, 270 
John Marshall's, Richmond, 

Virginia, 274 
Sabine Hall, Virginia, 278 
Westover, Virginia, 278 
Shirley, Virginia, 280 
Carter's Grove, Virginia, 280 
Brandon, Virginia, 281 
Gunston Hall, Virginia, 281 
Montpelier, Virginia, 296 
Shadwell, Virginia, 297, 322 
Oak Hill, Virginia, 301 
Red Hill, Virginia, 305 
Monticello, Virginia, 322 
Rebecca Motte's, Charleston, 

South Carolina, 336 
Pringle House, Charleston, 336 
Hermitage, Nashville, Tennes- 
see, 351 
Ashland, Lexington, Kentucky, 

355 
Whitley's Station, Kentucky, 

359 
White Haven, St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, 362 
" Hardscrabble," St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, 363 
Abraham Lincoln's, Springfield, 

Illinois, 369 
Harrison Mansion, Vincennes, 

Indiana, 374 
Rufus Putnam's House, Mari- 
etta, Ohio, 377 



416 



INDEX 



Monument Place, Elm Grove, 

West Virginia, 381 
Schuyler Mansion, Albany, New 

York, 391 
Wentworth House, Portsmouth, 

New Hampshire, 395 
Warner House, Portsmouth, 

New Hampshire, 399 
Longfellow House, Portland, 
Maine, 400 
Houston, Sam, 347 
Hovey, Dr. H. C, 77 
Howe, Lord, 95, 192 
Huguenot Church, Charleston, 

South Carolina, 335 
Hull, Hannah, 50 
Hutchinson, Ann, 50 

Independence Bell, 169, 199 
Independence, The Declaration of, 

20 
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 

151, 162 
Independent Church, Savannah, 

Georgia, 340 
Indians, attacked by the, 58, 361, 

382 
Institute of American Architects, 

238 

Jackson, Andrew, 233, 347, 351 
James River Canal Company, 

285 
Jamestown, Virginia, 288 
Jay, John, 98 
Jefferson, Thomas, 170, 173, 260, 

272, 294, 297, 299, 301, 322, 

326 
Jeremiah Lee House, Marblehead, 

Massachusetts, 72 
John Marshall's House, Richmond, 

Virginia, 274 
Johns, Kensey, 206 
Johnson, Nicholas, 78 
Journal and General Advertiser, 

New York, 95 
Journal, Springfield, Illinois, 372 
Jumel-Burr, Madam, 90 
Jumel, Stephen, 90 

Kasimir, Fort, Delaware, 203 
Kenmore, Virginia, 253 
Kent, Chancellor, 103 



Kentucke Gazette, 355 
Key, Francis Scott, 222 
Kidd, Captain, 92 
King, Washington asked to be- 
come, 108 
King's Chapel, Boston, 32 
Kingston, New York, 226 
Knyphausen, General, 138, 194 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 107, 193, 
199, 256, 296, 299, 304, 346, 
353, 381 

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 227 

Leader, Richard, 69 

Lee, Jeremiah, 72 

Lee, Richard Henry, 124, 244 

Lee, Robert E., 246, 280, 287 

"Lehigh, House on the," 197 

Letitia Penn House, Philadelphia, 
145 

Lexington, battle of, 78, 166 

Lexington, Massachusetts, 26, 27, 
73 

Liberator, The, 22 

Liberty Bell, 169, 199 

Lidgett, Mrs. Elizabeth, 67 

Lightning, ship, 333 

Lincoln, Abraham, 230, 233, 369, 
371, 372 

Little Pilgrim, The newspaper, 
54 

Livingston, Robert R., 98 

Logan, James, 148 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 40, 
396, 400 

Longfellow, Mrs. Henry Wads- 
worth, 41 

Lossing, Benson J., 152 

Lottery for church building pur- 
poses, 159 

Louisiana, 191 

Louisiana Purchase, 294 

Louisiana transferred to the 
United States, 344 

Lowell, General Charles Russell, 
38 

Lowell, James Jackson, 38 

Lowell, James Russell, 36, 37 

Lowell, Maria, 38 

Lowell, Rev. Charles, 37 

Lowly office after the Presidency, 
261 

Loyalists' houses confiscated, 89 

Lunt, Ezra, 78 



INDEX 



417 



Maddox, Rev. Robert, 212 
Madison, James, 37, 223, 236, 

296 
Makemie, Frances, 212 
Mantonomi, 81 

Marblehead, INIassachusetts, 72 
Marietta, Ohio, 377 
Marion, General, 337 
Marriages: Mary Philipse and 
Roger Morris, 93 

Rev. William Tennent and Mrs. 
Noble, 123 

Alexander Hamilton and Eliza- 
beth Schuyler, 129 

William Penn and Gull Sprin- 
gett, 145 

William Penn and Hannah Cal- 
lowhill, 147 

William Aubrey and Letitia 
Penn, 148 

John James Audubon and Mary 
Bakewell. 190 

Kcnsey Johns and Anne Van 
Dyke, 206 

Charles J. Du Pont and Dorcas 
M. Van Dyke, 208 

Upton Scott and Elizabeth Ross, 
221 

Robert E. Lee and IMiss Custis, 
247 

Augustine Washington and 
Mary Ball, 252 

John Rolfe and Pocahontas, 
266 

John Tvler and Letitia Chris- 
tian, 260 

Thomas Nelson and Lucy 
Grymes, 270 

James Madison and Dorothy 
Todd, 298 

James Madison and Eliza Kort- 
wright, 301 

George Washington and Martha 
Custis, 321 

Thomas Jefferson and INIartha 
Skelton, 322 

Jacob Motte and Rebecca Brew- 
ton, 336 

Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Ax- 
son, 343 

Henry Clay and Lavinia Hart, 
355 

Ulysses S. Grant and Julia 
bent, 362 



Abraham Lincoln and Mary 

Todd, 370 
Moses Shepherd and Lydia 

Boggs, 383 
Philip Schuyler and Catherine 

Van Rensselaer, 393 
Alexander Hamilton and Eliza- 
beth Schuyler, 393 
Governor Wentworth and Mar- 
tha Hilton, 397 
Michael Wentworth and Mrs. 
Martha Wentworth, 399 

Marshall, Chief Justice, 169, 274, 
294 

Martineau, Harriet, 299, 356 

Mary, ship, 245 

Mary Washington House, Fred- 
ericksburg, Virginia, 251 

Mason and Dixon line, 171 

Mason, George, 281, 312 

Mason, Lowell, 342 

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 28 

Massacre, Boston, 19, 31 

Massasoit, 80 

Mather, Cotton, 58 

Mather, Increase, 32 

Mayfloicer, Putnam's barge on the 
Ohio. 379 

McColloch's leap, 382 

McKinlev, William, 346 

Meade, Bishop, 276, 319 

Medford, Massachusetts, 27, 66 

Mercer, General, 135 

Mercer House, Princeton, New Jer- 
sey, 134 

Mercury, New York, 87 

Mill Grove, near Philadelphia, 
187 

Monmouth, battle of, 123 

Monroe, James, 232, 294, 301, 342 

Montgomery, General, 97 

Monticello,' Virginia, 322 

Montpelier, Virginia, 296 

Monument Place, Elm Grove, West 
Virginia, 381 

Monumental Church, Richmond, 
Virginia, 277, 294 

Moore House, Yorktown, Virginia, 
270, 274 

Moravian Church, Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, 196 

Morris, Gouverneur, 98, 103 

Morris-Jumel House, New York 
City, 87, 94 



418 



INDEX 



Morris, Robert, 184 

Morris, Roger, 87, 93 

Morven, Princeton, New Jersey, 

134 
" Mosses from an Old Manse," 63 
Mount Airy, Virginia, 234, 314 
Mount Vernon, Virginia, 109, 241 
Munitions, Revolutionary, 173 

Nantes, Edict of, 28 
Nassau Hall, Princeton, New- 
Jersey, 130 
National Intelligencer, Washing- 
ton, 236 
National Pike, 384 
Nelson House, Yorktown, Vir- 
ginia, 270 
Nelson, Thomas, 270 
Newark, New Jersey, 130 
Newburyport, Massachusetts, 55, 

75 
New Castle, Delaware, 145, 203 
New England Antiquities, Society 

for the Preservation of, 71 
New Orleans, battle of, 346 
Newspapers: Liberator, 22 
Essex Gazette, 25 
Boston News Letter, 28 
Boston Gazette, 30 
Little Pilgrim, The, 54 
New York Mercury, 87 
New York Daily Advertiser, 87 
New York Gazette, 95, 99 
New York Journal and General 

Adtyertiser, 95 
Philadelphia Pennsylvania Pack- 
et, 97 
Pennsylvania Evening Post, 

155,' 173 
Pennsylvania Gazette, 164 
Daily American Advertiser, 

Philadelphia, 196 
National Intelligencer, Wash- 
ington, 227, 236 
Gazette of the United States, 256 
Williamsburg Gazette, 262 
American Standard, Richmond, 

Virginia, 295 
San Antonio Herald, 348 
Kentucke Gazette, 355 
Springfield Journal, 372 
Portland Gazette, 402 
Nicola, Lewis, tries to tempt 
Washington, 108 



Norriton, Pennsylvania. 170 
Norriton Presbyterian Church, 

172 
North Church, Boston, 27 
Northwestern Territory, 274 
Nova Scotia, Franklin's land spec- 
ulation in, 117 
Noyes, Alfred, 136 

Oak Hill, Virginia, 301 

Octagon House, Washington, 231, 
234, 236, 317 

Oglethorpe, General James E., 
341 

Ohio Company, the, 378 

Ohio River, floating down the, 190 

Old Manse, the. Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, 61 

Old Pine Street Church, Philadel- 
phia, 159 

Old North Church, Boston, 32 

Old South Church, 20, 24, 31, 
32 

Old South Church, Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, 75 

Old State House, Boston, 19 

Old Tennent Church, Freehold, 
New Jersey, 122 

Oliver, Thomas^, 36 

Ordway. Alfred A., 56 

O'Reilly, Count Alejandro, 343 

Orin, Azor, 73 

" Oven, The," temporary Capitol, 
227 

Paoli Massacre, 181, 194 
Parsons, Dr. Jonathan, 78 
Patriot who destroyed their own 

houses: Thomas Nelson, 271; 

Rebecca Motte, 339 
Pauling, John, 178 
Paul Revere's House, Boston, 

Massachusetts, 23 
Peabody, Sophia, 62 
Peace, signing of, in 1783. 110 
Peale, Charles Wilson, 133, 154 
Penn, Letitia, 146 
Penn, Thomas and Richard, 153 
Penn, William, 145, 162, 204 
Pennsbury Manor, Pennsylvania, 

147 
Pennsylvania Evening Post, 155, 

173 
Pennsylvania Gazette, 164 



INDEX 



419 



Pennsylvania Packet, Philadel- 
phia, 97 
Pcnnypacker, Samuel W., 171 
Penobscot expedition, 28 
Persecution, religious, in New 

York, 213 
Phi Beta Kappa Society, 294 
Philadelphia, evacuation of, 177 
Philadelphia, Paul Revere rides 

to, 25 
Philipsburgh, Manor of, 92 
Philipse, Colonel Frederick, 92 
Philipse, Frederick, 91 
Philipse IManor House, Yonkers, 

New York, 91 
Philipse, Mary, 93 
Pine Grove, Virginia, 253 
Pine-tree shillings, dowry of, 50 
Plum pudding, the best dinner, 260 
Plymouth, New Hampshire, 66 
Pohick Church, Virginia, 249, 311 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 26, 

395 
Potomac Canal, 218, 285 
Prayer at opening of First Conti- 
nental Congress, 151 
Prayer for the King, omitted, 

154 
President's pew: in St. Paul's 
Chapel, New York, 96 
in St. Peter's, Philadelphia, 154 
in Pohick Church, Virginia, 312 
Princeton, battle of, 133, 135 
Princeton University, 130 
Pringle House, Charleston, South 

Carolina, 336 
Providence, Rhode Island, 82 
Putnam, William Lowell, 38 
" Put VVatts into them, boys," 140 

Quincy, Dorothy, 52 

Quincy, Edmund, 49, 51 

Quincy, Edmund, III, 51 

Quincy, Josiah, 53 

Qviincy, Judith, 50 

Quincy Mansion, Quincy, Massa- 
chusetts, 49 

Quincy, IMassachusetts, 44 

Quincy, Massachusetts Historical 
Society, 47 

Randolph, Edmund, 269, 294 
Randolph, John, 228 
Read, George, 205 



Red Bank, New Jersey, victory at, 
181 

Redemptioners, purchase of, 186 

Red Hill, Virginia, 305 

Revere, Paul, 23, 33, 53, 77 

Rhode Island, 83 

Ridgelv, Ur. Charles Greenburg, 
209 

Rittenhouse, David, 198 

Rittenhouse House, Philadelphia, 
170 

Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Due de 
la, 325 

Rodney, Caesar, 208, 209 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 233, 290 

Ross, George, 204 

Royall House, Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, 66 

Royall, Isaac, 67 

Royall, William, 67 

Rufus Putnam's House, Marietta, 
Ohio, 377 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 163, 171 

St. John's Church, Richmond, 

Virginia, 264, 266 
St. Luke's Church, Smithfield, 

Virginia, 318 
St. Martins-in-the-Fields, London, 

82 
St. Michael's Church, Charleston, 

vSouth Carolina, 333 
St. Peter's Church, New Kent 

Coimty, Virginia, 318 
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, 

153 
St. Philip's Church, Charleston, 

South Carolina, 335, 340 
Salem, Massachusetts, 80 
Savannah. Georgia, Siege of, 341 
Schools, free, beginnings of, in 

Pennsylvania, 186 
Schuyler, Catherine, 393 
Schuyler, Elizabeth, 100, 127 
Schuyler, General Philip, 100, 

126 
Schuyler Mansion, Albany, New 

York. 391 
Scott House, Annapolis, Mary- 
land, 220 
Scott, Mollv, 382 
Scott, Upton, 220 
Servants, problem of, in early 

days, 185 



420 



INDEX 



Severance, Frank H., 386 
Suwell, Judge Samuel, 50, 74 
Shadwell, Virginia, 297, 322 
Sharpe, Horatio, 221 
Shepherd, Moses, 381 
gherwood Forest, Virginia, 257, 261 
Shippen, Dr. William, Jr., 162 
Ships: Dartmouth, 24 

Somerset, 27 

Welcome, 145 

John and Sarah, 146 

Surprise, 223 

Mary, 245 

Constitution and Gucrriere, 
Cyano and Levant, 317 

Lightning, 333 
Shirley, Virginia, 280 
Signers of the Declaration of 
Independence : John Wither- 
spoon, 132 

Benjamin Rush, 162 

George Ross, 204 

George Read, 205 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
216 

Thomas Nelson, 270 

George Wythe, 290 

Richard Lightfoot Lee, 314 
Skippack, Pennsylvania, 180 
Smith, Abigail, 46 
Smith, Rev. William, 46 
" Snow-Bound," 55 
Society for the Preservation of 

Virginia Antiquities, 277 
Somerset, ship, 27 
Sons of the Revolution, 99 
Springett, Guli, 145 
Springfield, battle of, 141 
Springfield Meeting House, New 

Jersey, 138 
Stamp Act, 30, 46, 218 
Star-Spangled Banner, story of 

the, 222 
Stark, General John, 68 
Stark, Molly, 68 
State House Clock, Philadelphia, 

172 
State House Yard, Philadelphia, 

163 
Steuben, Baron, 176. 
Stevens, Colonel William, 211 
Stockton. Mrs. Richard, 134 
Stone Church, Elm Grove, West 
Virginia, 386 



Stony Point, New York, 195 
Stuart, Gilbert, 218 
Stuyvesant, Petrus, 204 
Sullivan, General, 43 
Susquehanna, Falls of the, 226 
Sweetbrier, Philadelphia, 183 
Swett, Martha, 74 
Symmes, Rev. Frank R., 123 

Taney, Chief Justice R. R., 222 
Tayloe, John, 232, 234, 314 
Tea meetings, 31 
Tecumseh, Indian chief, 375 
Tennont. Rev. John, 123 

Rev. William, 123 
Texas, Republic of, 350 
Thames, battle of the, 360 
Theatre fire in Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, 294 
Thomson, George, 208 
Thornton, Dr. William, 226, 234 
Ticonderoga, 193 
Tilghman, Tench, 127, 392 
Tillinghast, Pardon, 81 
Treaty of 1783, 133 
Trenton, battle of, 135 
Tudor, John, 19 
Tyler, Henry, 290 
Tyler, Judge John, 257, 258, 294 

United States archives, removed 
to new Capitol at Washing- 
ton. 227 

University of Virginia, the, 326 

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 174, 

182, 189, 195, 218 
Vanarsdal, Rev. Jacob, 141 
Van Buren, Martin, 232 
Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, 105 
Van Cortlandt Park, 104 
Van der Donck, Jonkheer Adriaen, 

91, 105 
Van Dyke, Henry, 215 
Van Dyke, Nicholas, 205 
Vane, Sir Harry, 50 
Vassall, John, 41 
Vassall, Leonard, 48 
Venus, transit of, 171 • 
Vincennes, Indiana, 374 

Waldo, Albigence, 182 

Walker, Rachel, 23 

Wallace Nutting Corporation, 7P 



INDEX 



421 



Walter, Thomas U., 229 

Ward, Samuel, 42 

Warner House, Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, 399 

Warren, General, 26 

Washington and Lee University, 
248 

Washington, burning of, in 1814, 
184, 228, 231, 235, 317 

Washington College, Lexington, 
Virginia, 285 

Washington, George, 21, 31, 40, 
72, 88, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 105, 
108, 110, 124, 133, 137, 139, 
157, 173, 174, 178, 189, 192, 
194, 206, 218, 226, 234, 241, 
246, 252, 256, 272, 281, 283, 
285, 290, 294, 305, 308, 311, 
315, 316, 321, 374, 377, 378 

Washington, Laurence, 241, 253 

Washington, ]\Irs. George, 42, 127, 
177, 245 

Wayne, Captain Isaac, 192 

Wayne, General Anthony, 107, 
157, 192 

Waynesborough, near Philadel- 
phia, 192 

Wayside, The, Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, 61 

Weare, Meschech, 108 

Webster, Daniel, 384 

Weems, Parson, 313 

Wentworth, Governor Benning, 
395 

Wentworth House, Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire, 395 

West Church, Boston, 37 

Westover, Virginia, 278 



West Point Military Academy, 

100, 106, 362 
Wheelwright, Rev. John, 50 
Whitefield, Rev. George, 75 
White Haven, St. Louis, Missouri, 

362 
White House, Washington, 230, 

236 
Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania, 181 
Whitley's Station, Kentucky, 359 
Whittier, John G., 54, 79 
Whittier, Thomas, 54 
Wilkinson, General, 158 
William and Mary College, Will- 
iamsburg, Virginia, 259, 289, 
291 
Williamsburg Court House, Vir- 
ginia, 262 
Williamsburg, Virginia, 289 
Williams, Roger. 80 
Wilson, Daniel Munro, 44, 47 
Winthrop, Governor, 34, 66 
Wirt, William, describes Patrick 
Henry's first public speech, 
264 
Witherspoon, John, 132 
Wolfe, Colonel James, 220 
Women's Centennial Executive 

Committee, 339 
Wren, James, 249 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 82, 292 
Wythe, George, 290 

Yonkers, New York, 88, 91 
York, Pennsylvania, 174 
Yorktown, Siege of, 271, 279 

Zinzendorf, Count, 197 



